A draft law regarding the 2024 state budget and the budgetary framework for 2024, 2025 and 2026 has been submitted to the government for review, providing for total expenditure of 95.6 million euros for the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Regional Development (VARAM). A major role in the Ministry's budget for next year is played by the development and security of information and communication technology (ICT) solutions.
Minister of Environmental Protection and Regional Development Inga Bērziņa: “In defining the priorities for the VARAM #Budget2024, we have planned to ensure a favourable and modern living space in a balanced and sustainably developed Latvia. We will work in three essential directions – national digital development, the balanced development of regions and municipalities, and the management of natural capital and sustainable environmental ecosystems. The allocated funding, for instance, will allow for the significant development of ICT solutions and ensure the availability of convenient e-services for the public, as well as improve the security of personal data and public administration information.”
To ensure national digital development, expenditures in the amount of 1.5 million euros are planned. This funding will provide support for the development of the state’s shared and essential ICT solutions and the availability of convenient e-services for the public. VARAM plans to secure the involvement of high-level technological expertise in the creation and maintenance of the state’s unified ICT architecture, as well as in the monitoring of accessibility requirements and the implementation of the Digital Europe programme.
For the improvement of cybersecurity resilience in critical infrastructure and high-security ICT solutions, VARAM has allocated 1.9 million euros in funding. The funds are intended to upgrade the cybersecurity protection of the information systems under the authority of the State Regional Development Agency (VRAA), to ensure the security of the personal data and public administration information they contain.
Likewise, one of the priorities is the fulfilment of the requirements of the European Commission regulation, which establishes a list of specific high-value datasets and the procedures for their publication and re-use. 607,556 euros have been earmarked for this purpose.
https://www.varam.gov.lv/lv/jaunums/varam-prioritates-2024gada-budzeta