Papua New Guinea has been urged to join the Open Government Partnership initiative.
The Open Government Partnership (OPG) is a multi-stakeholder mechanism that aims to foster a more open, accountable and responsive interaction between civil society organisations and the government.
This week, members of the Peer Learning and Support committee were in the country to discuss details of this global mechanism.
The good news for PNG is that it has already passed the first step of gaining membership into OPG. Transparency international PNG has been instrumental in facilitating OPG’s entry into PNG.
The next step would be a high level commitment from the government which should result in letter of request to the OPG steering committee for PNG to join.
Participants from the workshop are encouraged that that commitment has begun when Foreign Affairs Minister, Rimbink Pato invited the OPG steering committee to conduct this workshop to create awareness on OPG.
Since its formulation in 2011, OPG has had some significant success in countries such as the UK, the United States, Brazil and Indonesia; for which, US President, Barrack Obama and British Prime Minister, David Cameron, are two high profile government representatives from their countries.
In terms of commitment to this initiative, co-founding member countries have set a high precedence.
Equally to a high level commitment from the government, OPG needs a very strong and organised civil society. Experiences in Indonesia have shown what is needed to make this work; with clear and tangible objectives that can be achieved within two year periods.
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