Minister of Finance Diana Dragutinovic and Head of the World Bank in Serbia Simon Gray signed an agreement  yesterday under which Serbia will receive grants worth RSD 32 million for the implementation of the e-administration development project.

Dragutinovic said at a news conference that the aim of introducing e-government is to increase the efficiency of state institutions, improve the quality of services and reduce the costs of state administration.

The government last year adopted an e-government development strategy to be implemented by 2013, she noted and added that the funds received from the World Bank are of great importance for the continuation of reforms in our country.

This financial institution has allocated approximately $3 million of grants for our country since 2000, she outlined.

Speaking of credit support from the World Bank, Dragutinovic highlighted that this financial institution approved $388 million last year for the construction of Corridor 10 and a credit of $100 million for budget support, under very favourable terms.

The loans were granted for a period of 20 years with a grace period of eight years and the interest rate in the amount of six-month LIBOR plus a variable interest margin of 0.17%, she explained.

Gray emphasised that the World Bank will provide a credit support in the amount of approximately $900 million to Serbia until 2011.

The World Bank does not usually grant non-returnable aid, but has made an exception in the case of the project to develop e-administration due to its significance for the improvement of transparency in the work of Serbian state institutions, he emphasised.

Grey voiced his expectation that the realisation of this project will help Serbia to implement the Electronic Administration Strategy more efficiently, which will in turn contribute to the development of human resources in public administration.

The project, part of the Digital Agenda of the Ministry for Telecommunications and Information Society, envelops the issues of internet access, assessment and improvement of the existing IT system and development of e-services for citizens and business entities in the public sector.