Pretoria – South Africa will take part in a series of Open Government Partnership (OGP) events, scheduled to take place on the margins of the 69th United Nations General Assembly in New York.
Deputy Minister for Public Service and Administration Ayanda Dlodlo will represent the country in the OGP events, which include a high-Level event for Heads of State on Wednesday to mark the third anniversary of the partnership.
Led by President Jacob Zuma, South Africa will assume the position of co-chair of the OGP steering committee at this high-level event.
About the OGP
The OGP provides an international forum for dialogue and sharing ideas and experience among governments, civil society organisations, and the private sector - all of which contribute to a common pursuit of open government.
It is aimed at securing concrete commitments from governments to promote transparency, increase civic participation, fight corruption and harness new technologies to make governments more open, effective, and accountable.
The partnership was formally launched in September 2011 when eight founding governments -- Brazil, Indonesia, Mexico, Norway, Philippines, South Africa, United Kingdom and the United States -- endorsed an Open Government Declaration, and published national OGP action plans with specific open government reform commitments.
In just three years since its launch, the membership has grown to 64 countries, with hundreds of civil society organisations participating in the OGP process at the country-level.
OGP countries represent one third of the world's population and have made more than 1 000 open government reform commitments.
To become a member, countries must first satisfy four basic eligibility criteria: fiscal transparency, access to information legislation, disclosure related to elected or senior public officials and citizen engagement.
In line with the criteria, South Africa boasts world acclaimed fiscal transparency consistently ranking first or second in the Open Budget Index and being the highest ranking non-Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) country.
The country is also represented in the International Accounting Standards Board as part of new membership of the Board as of July 2014. – SAnews.gov.za
