IT system for improving inter-ministerial coordination in the process of planning, implementation and monitoring of the policy for balanced regional development – sirera.mk developed with Swiss support has been launched on Monday.
Digital tool aims at monitoring the implementation of national funds for balanced regional development that should provide transparent and structured information to reduce the disparities in the level of development between urban and rural municipalities, as well as between the City of Skopje and the rest of the country. The system collects, uses and archives all data and information relevant to the planning, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of the policy of balanced regional development.
It was developed within the project “Sustainable and Inclusive Balanced Regional Development” in a total value of 5 million Swiss francs, of which 3.3 million Swiss francs are allocated by the Swiss Government and the rest of the funds are allotted from the state budget.
Deputy PM for Economic Affairs Fatmir Bytyqi addressing the promotional event noted that the implementation of the project “Sustainable and Inclusive Balanced Regional Development” began in 2018 and thanked the Swiss Embassy and the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation for cooperation in its implementation.
“The function of this modern tool is to assist the government, but also the ministries, agencies, directorates and other state institutions in the process of successful implementation of the new Law on Balanced Regional Development and achieving investment of one percent of GDP in balanced regional development as input for the development of municipalities and regions,” Bytyqi stressed.
He said that the IT system provides an accurate overview of all investments arising from the national budget and are invested at the regional level and provides easy and timely coordination of all government institutions that according to their programmes and budgets plan to invest funds from the state budget, adding that it increases the transparency and accountability of institutions, improves communication between them and increases the efficiency and capacity of policies and programmes.
Minister of Local Self-Government Goran Milevski stressed that all the documents necessary for regional and local development have already been adopted and have been successfully implemented in cooperation with the Swiss Embassy and UNDP.
“The Council of Regional Development ensures that all programmes, funded by the government to observe the principle of development of the planning regions, i.e., to allocate the funds in different percentages in different regions,” Milevski said.
The digitalization, he pointed out, will enable obtaining accurate data on how the funds are distributed from the state budget and announced that the second phase of the project “Sustainable and Inclusive Balanced Regional Development” will kick off this autumn with an additional investment of about 6 million Swiss francs.
Swiss Ambassador Sybille Suter Tejada said that regional policy aims that reducing regional disparities is crucial for the well-being of all citizens, adding that however, developing sound policies is almost impossible without having the necessary data to provide strategic guidance to the policy makers and at the same time improve transparency and enhanced coordination among all relevant stakeholders.
“The government recognized the need for the IT system and showed commitment in developing it and coordinating among all national stakeholders to make it valuable digital tool for future policy decisions. With the Swiss cooperation programme North Macedonia 2021-2024, the digitalization is a new key priority theme for achieving sustainable development. The increased use of digitalization will ensure more transparent democratic institutions and governance processes, reduced bureaucratic hurdles, prevent corruption and most importantly contribute to ensuring decent living standards for all citizens in the country,” she added.
