Skopje, 30 November 2021 (MIA) – The government must ensure citizens’ cyber security and introduce new safety measures across the entire IT infrastructure in the country, Minister of Information Society and Administration Jeton Shaqiri said on Tuesday. He addressed the 17th conference on the challenges and opportunities of democracy in the digital era, organized by the Metamorphosis foundation and stressed that freedom of expression and media, as well as protection of media pluralism are crucial for democracy. However, the Minister added, there are some challenges, including fake news. Therefore, he noted, critical thinking and media literacy are important tools in the fight against information manipulation, fake news, fake reporting, misinformation, propaganda, etc. Shaqiri also highlighted the Ministry’s and the government’s efforts and activities in regard to digitalization, as well as technology development challenges. “While crucial infrastructure is mostly owned by the private sector, the government must undertake activities to protect it. Therefore, we’re currently working with the USAID on a program designed to improve the cyber security of North Macedonia’s crucial infrastructure and key resources,” Minister Shaqiri told the event. He added that the Ministry is coordinating the “Open Government Partnership” initiative, noting its efforts for improving the government’s efforts by ensuring the transparency, safety and efficiency of government institutions that communicate and cooperate with citizens. “We continue to encourage release and use of data aiming to boost the transparency and accountability of state institutions,” Shaqiri stressed. The conference was organized as part of the project “Increasing Civic Engagement in the Digital Agenda – ICEDA”, co-funded by the European Union.