ATHENS — Digital Governance Minister Kyriakos Pierrakakis provided figures on the rapid increase of digital traffic and online transactions that have taken place in 2021, including public access to government online services, speaking at Thessaloniki Helexpo Forum on Tuesday.

On the sidelines of the 85th Thessaloniki International Fair 2021, the minister was speaking at the thematic event 'Citizen-State relationship-the new digital era and its challenges', and he noted that some 150 million digital transactions were registered in the first half of 2021, compared to 8.8 mln in 2018, 34 mln in 2019 and 94 mln in 2020.

By year's end, he added, it is certain that a figure of 300 mln will have been surpassed.

"The government's strategy for facilitating a more efficient practical relationship between citizens and the state was coded around a specific initiative, that of the gov.gr portal, noted Pierrakakis. The governmental hub of digital services for citizens began with a mere 500 services, and it now features over 1,300 different ones," stressed the minister.

Pierrakakis also spoke about gov.gr being the state's "new face," and he announced that his ministry's priority now is the further digitization and simplification of services, as well providing new services via gov.gr.

Another key aspect mentioned by the minister is the implementation of projects through the government's Digital Transformation Bible project, a roadmap consisting of some 450 projects backed by 6.4 billion euros of EU Recovery Fund money, to speed up the digitization of the public and private sectors and boost Greece’s digital readiness. Some of these projects have been auctioned, he noted, while most will be auctioned imminently.