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Belgrade – The prime minister stated that digitization and all the electronic services that have been invested in over the years have helped Serbia to react efficiently during the covid crisis.
Source: Tanjug
TANJUG / GOVERNMENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF SERBIA / SLOBODAN MILJEVIC
Closing the GovTech2020 summit, which was attended by numerous international officials, such as German Health Minister Jens Spahn, Ana Brnabic said that she could proudly say that all investments by the Serbian government in digitization and new technologies and startups paid off, as best demonstrated during kovid’s Crisis.
On Tuesday, he spoke with Daniel Korski, co-founder of the “From Crisis to Recovery” summit, about Serbia’s experiences in implementing e-services and gaining the trust of citizens when it comes to digitizing public services, but also about the 5G network and how Today, Serbia is balancing that issue between the United States and China.
Brnabic spoke about the results in the field of digitization of education, new subjects and recalled that thanks to all this we were the only country in Europe where students did not miss a day of school due to the transition to online schooling, which the administrators of that summit in Paris pointed out as the key to that.
He also recalled that together with the educational reform, the priority of the Serbian Government and the reform of the public administration are very important, as well as the investment in the programs provided by the Strategy for the Development of Artificial Intelligence.
The Prime Minister of Serbia said that she had a recommendation for governments around the world to work on applying new technologies and technological solutions as much as possible.
He added that this is exactly the key priority of the Government of Serbia, along with developing an economy based on innovations, not investments, which, as he added, is a way for Serbia not to be a country of cheap labor, so that GDP grow, stay young and change destiny.
Brnabic recalled that the VI Strategy was adopted at the end of December 2019, which made Serbia the first country in Southeast Europe and the 26th in the world to have such a document. He added that it will allow the development and application of artificial intelligence in education, science and public administration, and a further acceleration of our economy.
Speaking about education reform, he claimed that Serbia needed only three days to switch to online classes for all primary and secondary students.
As important results, he pointed out the connection of all schools to the Internet within a secure network: the “Connected Schools” project was launched, digital educational content, digital textbooks, digital classrooms with high-speed wireless Internet were provided.
Brnabić also spoke about the new Digital World and Informatics and Informatics subjects, and the fact that next year Serbia will have the first generation of primary school graduates who know the basics of programming and coding.
“Serbia is one of the leaders in Europe in this,” he said, recalling that the goal of the digital world is for children to learn to think and not what to think.
He recalled that in this way the students will learn to distinguish what is fake news and what is not, how to fight against digital violence … but also with conspiracy theories and skepticism such as those related to 5G technologies.
He said that about a thousand students go to special IT departments, that a Master 4.0 program has been introduced where universities cooperate with each other, with foreign universities and renowned lecturers.
The Science Fund was established as a competitive funding mechanism for science, and in two weeks nine million euros will be allocated from the first call for projects by young researchers, the budget for the Innovation Activity Fund has doubled …
Along with the complete digitization of the education system, investments in technologies are equally important, he said and recalled that IT is the fastest growing sector in Serbia, that its annual growth is over 20 percent, and that even at the moment of the pandemic was 4.5 percent.
“Everything we have done has paid off because the ICT sector is the fastest growing and generates more and more new jobs, which is important for the economy,” she said, adding that she was sure that it would remain a priority for the next prime minister and future government.
“All of this is preparation for the future, which will be characterized by sophisticated technology and a knowledge society,” Brnabić said, adding that this includes new laws, which, among other things, will apply to cryptocurrencies.
Brnabic said that nothing that was done in the field of the digital economy was done without consulting the private sector and startups, because that was a way to elicit their suspicions.
Assessing that it is difficult to talk about 5G in Europe today, that Serbia, like other countries, is between the US and China, Korski wanted to know how Belgrade is balancing on that issue, to which Brnabić He said that it is a fantastic technology that contributes to humanity and that it is a very important issue that needs to be thought through and discussed carefully.
“We are closely watching the development of the situation in that area, what is best for Serbia, Serbian companies, our science, research, citizens, business and what is a political or possible solution,” he said, adding that it is an issue. difficult in any case, and that in addition to everything in the country, as in much of the world, there is a dose of skepticism among citizens.
We must find a way to communicate, on that front we are united government, business, civil society and we must create an even stronger front to defend 5G, said the Prime Minister.
The GovTech Summit brought together a large number of innovators, statesmen, representatives of international organizations, directors and founders of technology companies, to review together the conditions and see how governments can function in the new technological era.
Previous GovTech summits have been attended by other senior officials and international leaders in the digitization and transformation of the economy, including Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in 2018 and Estonian President Kersti Kaljulaj.
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