ISLAMABAD: The federal cabinet would take up the national action plan (NAP) mandatory to join the Open Government Partnership, an international, multilateral initiative launched in 2011 to secure concrete commitments from governments to promote transparency and empower citizens, the Finance Ministry said Saturday.
Pakistan had already met the eligibility threshold for membership to the OGP, achieving 15 out of the 16 criteria. Finance Minister Ishaq Dar had handed over Pakistan’s letter of intent (LoI) to join the OGP to the French president during the fourth biennial OGP Global Summit held in Paris in December 2016.
An important requirement of OGP is for the government to develop a national action plan in consultation with civil society and private sector, and to define commitments to foster transparency, accountability and public participation in all government processes.
A meeting under Finance Minister Ishaq Dar Saturday said that the Economic Affairs Division (EAD) was in final stages of developing the NAP as a pre-requisite to the membership to the OGP initiative.
During the meeting, Economic Affairs Division officials briefed the finance minister about the progress on the National Action Plan (NAP) being prepared for submission to the OGP.
They informed the minister that input for the NAP had been obtained from most of the stakeholders, and that the Economic Affairs Division was in the process of gathering the remaining input.
The minister was told that a number of consultative meetings in Islamabad as well as in the provincial capitals of all the provinces had been organised for preparation of the national action plan, with the support of federal ministries, provincial governments, civil society, academia and other stakeholders.
The minister directed the Economic Affairs Division officials to ensure that input and commitments from all stakeholders were incorporated in the NAP.
He said that a broader-level consultation with all stakeholders might be held prior to the submission of the NAP to the cabinet for approval, and subsequent submission to the OGP Secretariat.
Dar added that the government was fully committed to ensuring transparency and adopting international standards of governance. He said that the government’s accessions to the OECD Convention on Mutual Administrative Assistance in Tax Matters and submission of letter of intent to join the OGP were proof of the government’s commitment.
Published in Daily Times, October 22nd 2017.
