Skopje, 10 December 2025 (MIA) – Infrastructure for interoperability among institutions exists, but this is not just an IT issue. The 2.6 million monthly transactions on this platform are not enough, there can and must be ten times more. Institutions must not function as isolated islands but should be part of the platform and exchange data, Minister of Digital Transformation Stefan Andonovski said Wednesday at the third annual conference of the American Chamber of Commerce (AmCham) held in Skopje.

Andonovski underlined that a single electronic number of the citizen is being introduced, after the government Tuesday approved amendments to the Law on the Central Population Registry.

“This will also be mirrored in the unified tax identification number for citizens, meaning we will have an anonymous number that connects and provides information for each citizen, ensuring their protection. An anonymized personal ID number,” Andonovski said at the panel discussion “From Interoperability to Institutional Resilience: Unlocking the Power of Connected Data.”

He announced measures to boost use of the Ministry’s Interoperability Platform, which currently includes only 78 state institutions, even though participation is mandatory. New inspection oversight and penalties are now planned. He expects that notary, enforcement, and lawyers’ chambers will soon join the platform, and he also called on private companies, of which only about ten have joined so far.

According to Andonovski, with last year’s upgrades the platform is now easier to install and use in the most secure way possible.

“With the Interoperability Platform, unlike many countries, we already have the technological foundation that enables institutions to communicate with one another. There are states more developed than ours that do not have such a platform and must develop bilateral links for each service between every two institutions. For us, this is simplified, and by increasing the number of connected institutions we improve the process in a very straightforward way. Once the Public Revenue Office connects to the interoperability platform, it can use it for many different processes,” Andonovski said.

He said the platform recorded 2.6 million transactions in November, up 274 percent from the 2024 average. October saw a 269-percent jump, and September 163 percent. The number of connected institutions has increased from 65 to 78, and is expected to reach about 80 by year-end. Last year’s upgrade sped up data exchange.

Around ten private companies joined last year, mainly telecoms, banks, and insurers. The platform remains open for others to join for free, enabling them to access state data via simple web services when legally permitted, Andonovski said.

According to him, the problem lies in the behavior of the institutions, not in the private sector.

“If a ministry has five of its own laws, it follows only those and ignores all others, as if it were an island, even though the Law on Electronic Governance and the Law on Digital Documents set the standards. One senior director even told me: ‘This is my data, collected under my laws, and I have no reason to share it with another institution.’ The problem, he said, is systemic, rooted in the mindset of the administration. For 30 years we have built isolated “islands” that don’t communicate. The Law on ID Cards, for example, doesn’t consider the Law on Electronic Documents, so the institutions working under it simply don’t follow the electronic documents law, which is illogical. The system is one; the laws are one; they serve the same system. You cannot create parallel systems and add an electronic document requirement in every law,” Andonovski said.

The use of this platform is mandatory for all institutions, but, as he said, what he criticizes about his predecessors is that no law so far included inspection oversight or misdemeanor obligations for institutions that fail to join and exchange data.

“With legal amendments at the beginning of this year, we introduced inspection oversight. For the first time, we are establishing an inspection sector, and we will start raising alarms about these issues more directly with institutions, rather than immediately through sanctions. In this country, if there is no misdemeanor provision or threat of penalty, it is very difficult to enforce. Unfortunately, there has also been no political pressure for these platforms,” Andonovski said.

He announced the operational integration of registers that are not yet digitized, meaning their connection to the platform. “Our main focus here is the Ministry of Finance, with the new project for the Integrated Financial Management Information System (IFMIS), the Address Registry, and the modernization of the Public Revenue Office,” Andonovski noted.

To support the process of greater interoperability, hardware infrastructure has been procured and is being installed this week, which, according to the minister, will accelerate data exchange and improve system security.

The conference will also feature panels on “Navigating Digitalization and Cybersecurity in the Energy Sector,” “Accelerating Digital Innovation in the Financial Sector,” and “Funding Opportunities for Digitalization Efforts.”

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