TIRANA, Nov 2 /ATA/ – Albania ranks among the most advanced countries in GovTech and technology-enabled governance, according to a World Bank assessment, Prime Minister Edi Rama said on Monday, while stressing that digital progress must be accompanied by institutional reform and greater accountability in public administration.
Speaking alongside Minister of State for Public Administration and Anti-Corruption Adea Pirdeni, Rama presented a new plan to strengthen meritocracy and improve the performance of public institutions and their relationship with citizens.
“Not according to me or us, but according to the World Bank, Albania ranks among the most advanced countries in GovTech and technology-enabled governance,” Rama said.
He recalled the transformation of public services, once associated with long queues, paperwork, stamps and bribes, but warned that digitalisation alone could not guarantee better services.
“You can have the most sophisticated digital service, but if the institution behind it fails to respond to citizens in a timely manner, takes no responsibility for delayed or lost requests and cannot correct its own mistakes, citizens will continue to have a serious problem with the state as a whole,” he said.
Rama introduced the “Merit Scale”, a mechanism intended to make career advancement in the public administration more dependent on employees’ skills, performance and commitment.
“If the person who performs best within an institution does not have better opportunities for advancement than someone who does not do their job, the system cannot be considered fully functional,” he said.
He also praised the expertise of Albanian civil servants involved in the country’s European Union accession negotiations, saying the process had demonstrated the administration’s professional capabilities.
Rama said the public sector had considerable untapped professional potential that needed to be better recognised and rewarded.
Referring to internal employee surveys, he noted that years of commitment and positive performance assessments did not always translate into clear career prospects, with advancement sometimes depending on chance.
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