Minister to represent New Zealand at Open Government Partnership

Internal Affairs Minister Hon Peter Dunne will attend the first Open Government Partnership (OGP) Asia Pacific regional meeting in Bali, Indonesia on 6 and 7 May. The OGP is an international group of countries aimed at fostering good governance and improving relations between citizens and their states, making
member governments more open, accountable and responsive to citizens.

“New Zealand has a strong tradition of open and transparent government and ranks highly on several measures of transparency and integrity including the Corruption Perceptions Index and the Global Open Data Barometer.

“By joining the forum, New Zealand will continue to build and strengthen our system of open government, in collaboration with our citizens, while also playing a strong leadership role in the Partnership. “New Zealand is committed to open and transparent government and we look forward to sharing our experiences and expertise with our overseas partners,” says Mr Dunne.

Mr Dunne will address the international audience on New Zealand’s move to a digital democracy by using technology in citizen engagement.

Participating countries have to prepare a two-year Action Plan of commitments that will outline how they intend meeting at least two of the five OGP ‘grand challenges’, which are:

· improving public services
· increasing public integrity
· more effectively managing public resources
· creating safer communities, and
· increasing corporate accountability.

“Our participation at this event is also an opportunity for New Zealand to play a leadership role in the Asia Pacific region on matters of openness and transparency,” says Mr Dunne.

Mr Dunne will return to New Zealand on Thursday 8 May.
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