Ministers agree to cooperate on digital transition efforts

The Minister of Finance, Makis Keravnos, and the Deputy Minister of Research, Innovation, and Digital Policy, Nikodemos Damianou, met at the Ministry of Finance this week to discuss effective collaboration methods aimed at advancing the government’s primary policy focus on digital transition.

In statements after the meeting, which took place on Wednesday, Keravnos stated that the digital transition is a “basic political direction” of the government, which is “included in the Recovery and Resilience Plan“.

Furthermore, he highlighted that together with the Deputy Minister, they discussed “issues of cooperation between the two ministries and we determined how there will be a productive cooperation on all these issues which are a priority for our government“.

For his part, Damianou said that he informed the Ministry of Finance about the actions planned by the Deputy Ministry of Research in the field of digital transition.

Moreover, the goal of the digital transition and the modern competitive digital state, said the Deputy Minister, “is horizontal, it is a multidimensional and complex goal, and we all need to work to achieve it and certainly the opinions and help of the Ministry of Finance are of decisive importance“.

In response to a question about the electronic justice system eJustice, Damianou said that its evaluation has begun, in collaboration with an external firm and with the Cyprus Bar Association (CBA).

It is recalled that due to serious problems encountered with the eJustice system at the start of its implementation in early January, the Deputy Ministry temporarily reverted to the preliminary iJustice system until the issues were resolved.

“The first goal is to properly evaluate the system after what happened. This is ongoing in cooperation with an external firm that helps us but always – because different things are written and said – and in cooperation with the CBA”, said Damianou.

He noted that he has sent a written response to the president of the association, whom, as he mentioned, he has assured that “we want by our side. Their opinions will be heard as well as what they have identified about this system”. He mentioned in this context that a meeting with the association has been set for March 12.

Answering a question about the Cyber Security Action Plan, which was announced by his predecessor, Damianou said that this issue was discussed in the meeting with the Minister of Finance.

Describing the whole matter as “of the utmost importance”, the Deputy Minister of Research observed that not much can be said as it “relates to a sensitive area“.

Asked if the actions of the Plan extend over time, Damianou said that the effort is not to be over time and added that the effort is to have some strengthening of this sector called cyber security, as the effort must be continuous, as is the case in every business now.

“The purpose, and precisely the object of the meeting, was how to speed up some things in this context. So, we are proceeding normally as my predecessor had announced,” he added.

Answering the same question, Keravnos assured that in this effort, “which is of essential importance, the Ministry of Finance will fully support these efforts and we will march together to solve this issue, which is first of all a matter of security”.