Chile hosts regional Open Government Partnership meeting and welcomes Argentina to OGP

Open government experts from Latin America come together in Santiago to share experiences and spur innovation. 

Santiago – Chile is hosting a Regional Outreach Meeting of the Open Government Partnership (OGP) for Latin America on 10 and 11 January 2013. Opened by Cristián Larroulet, Minister Secretary-General of the Chilean Presidency, the meeting brings togethercivil society organisations and NGOs, policy leadersand representatives of industry for a series of workshops, presentations and panel discussions focusing on OGP developments in Latin America. The event will also be used as an opportunity to formally announce the declaration of Argentina to join the OGP.

In the past year, the OGP has grown dramatically, from the founding eight to 58 participating countries from around the world. The combined population of the 58 countries participating in the OGP is more than two billion, or around 29 per cent of the world’s population.With more than 500 million people or 86 per cent of Latin America’s total population residing in OGP participating countries already, Latin America is becoming a world leader in open government, with rich experiences to share both within and beyond the region.

Supported by the Secretariat-General of the Chilean Presidency, in association with the Chilean Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Agency for International Cooperation (AGCI), the two-day meeting aims to promote the exchange of experiences and best practice between leading government and civil society experts from the region and also from the UK as the currentOGP lead co-chair. Attendees will discuss progress inareas including access to information, public sectortransparency and accountability, citizen participation and combatting corruption in the region. There will also be an update on the implementation of individual countries’ OGP Action Plans, outlining the progress achieved by participating countries to date.

Cristián Larroulet, Minister Secretary-General of the Presidency, Chile, said:

“The fact that Chile is hosting a meeting of such magnitude is a major example of the leadership our country has taken in terms of transparency and of the high compliance reached by President Sebastián Piñera’s Government in this area. International studies support this: according to the latest report by Transparency International, Chile ranks 20th in the world in terms of transparent institutions.”

Álvaro Ramirez Alujas, Founder of the Group of Investigation in Government, Administration and Public Policy (GIGAPP), said:

"The OGP regional meeting is not only an excellent opportunity to contrast the progress made and to share lessons learned from the experience of the 15 countries of Latin America and the Caribbean involved in OGP.It is also a turning point for strengthening joint work programs and more permanent collaboration platforms, between thegovernments of the region and participatingcivil society organizations.

“This is a meeting where CSOs will have an opportunity to share their opinions of how countries can work through their OGP action plans towards increasing access to public information and transparency, deeper citizen participation, more open parliaments, and using technology and open data to provide better public services.”

An infographic has been produced in English andSpanish to visualize, among other things, Latin American countries’ open government commitments.

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