The statement was made today, 17 September 2021, during the event organized by the UNDP Network of Media Ambassadors for Digital Transformation, DIGITAL CAMP 2021. The training workshop was dedicated to digitalization and was designed for media ambassadors, a group of 14 journalists, mostly from local and regional media, selected for this first information session of the project.

The event brought together members of the Government, several e-governance experts from the Public Institution "e-Governance Agency" (EGA) and other promoters and supporters of the digitalization process, along with the special guest Iurie Turcanu, Deputy Prime Minister for Digitalization.

The discussions were focused on the close cooperation between the Government, donors, public and private institutions, stakeholders and journalists, including from the local press, which is needed in order to promote digitalization and facilitate the understanding and uptake of the concept of digital transformation by the population. The journalists were interested in how the digital divide faced by the rural population would be solved, and what the priority areas on which the digitalization agenda would focus.

The priorities of the Government of the Republic of Moldova in terms of digital transformation were presented by Deputy Prime Minister Iurie Turcanu: “We have some important priorities that we will focus on in the next period. Everyone wants a change now. We need to pave the strategic way for new digital transformations. One of them is the application of technology in public administration. Public services will improve their quality and will become very accessible. Another goal is the development of the information society, which is also an extraordinarily important mission”.

In her presentation, Olga Tumuruc, EGA Director, talked about the activity of the institution, emphasizing the correlation of EGA’s objectives in strict accordance with the Government Action Plan for digital transformation. In this context, EGA Director encouraged journalists to check the activities included in the plan and to come up with proposals and assessments regarding whether or not they meet their expectations and what else should be added and completed.

Olga Tumuruc thanked the organizers for the initiative, expressing her hope that this platform would be active and dynamic, so that the message on the digital transformation opportunities is brought to the target audience - the ordinary citizen. "It is an extraordinary opportunity to communicate about what the Government is doing in the field of digital transformation and to debate the topics of interest to the citizens. Both the present and the future are strictly related to technology, we must make sure that the technology is applied and implemented correctly and comfortably in everyday life", EGA Director said.

The event was also attended by Vlad Manoil, EGA’s Deputy Director, and other e-governance experts who talked about a number of topics, including the level of openness of the Government Data Portal (date.gov.md) - a resource designed to provide access to public data, the opportunities provided by the Citizen's Portal (MCabinet) - a tool through which we have access to data, remote authorization services, e-payments, interoperability, delivery services, electronic signature, etc.

A special topic for the journalists present at the event was the presentation of the concept of the Press Club for digital transformation - a new project designed by EGA, which offers journalists a new platform for active cooperation in this area.