Citizen Trust, Data Protection and Institutional Connectivity Are Key to the Success of Digital Wallets

This was stated at the first panel, “Digitalisation and Digital Wallets: Empowering Citizens in the Digital Age,” held as part of the eighth Digital Summit of the Western Balkans in Herceg Novi, organised by the Ministry of Public Administration under the auspices of the Government of Montenegro, in partnership with the Regional Cooperation Council (RCC) and within Montenegro’s chairmanship of the Berlin Process. Ivan Ilioski, Adviser for Digital Transformation at North Macedonia’s Ministry of Digital Transformation, said that the development of digital services in the country is based on alignment with the European Union’s legal framework, including the European Digital Identity framework. Speaking about the future of digitalisation in the region, Ilioski stressed the need for closer cooperation among Western Balkan countries and the development of interoperable solutions so that citizens can use digital identities and services beyond their national borders. Tirana Rinols Gjinaj, Head of the PKI Department at the Agency for Information Society (AKSHI), said that the new European regulatory framework for digital identity expands the capabilities of digital wallets and introduces additional trust services, including qualified electronic attestations of personal attributes and electronic archiving. Discussing the development of Albania’s national digital wallet, Gjinaj said that the integration of digital identity into the wallet had been tested, while work is under way to include the first ten documents with qualified electronic seals, selected according to their frequency of use in everyday life. Sanja Simonović, Head of Software Solutions and Integrations at MTEL, pointed out that certain elements of digital wallets already exist in the daily operations of telecommunications operators, which verify users’ identities and enable the secure use of services.