Discussion on the Implementation of Armenia's Digital Agenda Held with the Prime Minister

Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan held a meeting today in the government to discuss Armenia's digitalization agenda and its implementation vision. This was reported by the press service of the Armenian government.

Opening the discussion, Prime Minister Pashinyan noted that digitalization is one of the most crucial challenges posed by the Armenian government. He stated, "Digitalization is fundamentally a key component of the quality of life for our citizens and the quality of public service provision, as well as a significant indicator of the quality of statistics, which are essential for us. We need to discuss how we envision the implementation of this issue from the perspective that it is not only important for individual agencies and services to be digitized but even more critical for these digitized systems to be interoperable, meaning that they work with each other."

Unfortunately, even today there are digital platforms in Armenia that face interoperability issues, meaning one system does not connect with another, leading to problems in reconciling information. We have decided that the Ministry of High-Tech Industry will be the state body that establishes the standards, principles of interoperability, and frameworks, and that the digitalization within the general state system will occur within this logic. In other words, the digitization of sectors should be aimed at ensuring that the systems work together. Of course, we should also try to integrate existing digitized systems as much as possible.

This is quite a complex issue, and equally important is ensuring that digitized and integrated systems are usable, meaning that the systems for generating, searching, classifying, and delivering the information we need must be accessible and applicable.

The Minister of High-Tech Industry, Hakob Arshakyan, reported on the work done towards implementing Armenia's digitalization agenda. He mentioned that a digitalization strategy for 2020-2025 has been developed, aiming to ensure the digital transformation of the government, the economy, and society. The minister presented statistical data on the application of digital technologies in the public administration system and the private sector, addressed the issues related to digitalization in the public system, and discussed planned measures for the implementation of digital technologies.

According to Hakob Arshakyan, the process of inventorying the usability of existing digital systems and platforms in public administration bodies is currently underway, aiming to ensure their interoperability.

During a subsequent exchange of ideas, discussions were held concerning the quality criteria for digitalization, the compatibility of existing electronic systems, the directions of work being conducted under the digital agenda, legislative frameworks, and questions related to inter-agency electronic systems.

The strategic vision for public administration reforms in Armenia was also discussed during the meeting. It was noted that reforms are planned to be carried out in phases: the development of policies and coordination, public service and human resources management, state service delivery, accountability and integrity, institutional and functional modernization. As a result, a competitive public administration system is expected to be formed.

Current and planned programs for the development of electronic management tools in Armenia were also presented. The Prime Minister emphasized that digitalization must be implemented in accordance with high qualitative standards and instructed to continue work on ensuring compatibility of substantive and technical parameters and interoperability of systems. The government leader highlighted the importance of broad public awareness of the existing digital platforms and the dissemination of a culture of utilizing them, instructing responsible parties to actively work in this direction and present comparative statistics on public awareness and the usability of digital technologies on a semi-annual basis.