Mexico To Lead Open Government Partnership — Press Release

Global Organization Recognizes Mexico’s Leadership on Government Transparency and Digital Democracy

For immediate release

NEW YORK — Mexico today assumed the chairmanship of the Open Government Partnership in a ceremony at the United Nations. Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto was joined by other world leaders and heads of state, including U.S. President Barack Obama and French President François Hollande, at today’s meeting of the Open Government Partnership. Mexico is the first Latin American nation to chair the Open Government Partnership. Mexico will chair the Open Government Partnership from 2014 to 2015, assuming power from outgoing chair Indonesia.

“Open government is a new paradigm, which thanks to advanced technology is revolutionizing the way in which citizens and governments collaborate in order to design and evaluate public policy,” said President Peña Nieto. “Today, open governments are the new frontier of democracy. They are the most modern instrument for those interested in public matters to actively participate.”

“Today marks an historic occasion for the Open Government Partnership,” said Joe Powell, Deputy Director of the Open Government Partnership. “In just three years, OGP has grown to 65 nations and has made a global impact on the issues of governmental transparencyAccording to OGP’s Articles of Governance, transparency occurs when “government-held information (including on activities and decisions) is open, comprehensive, timely, freely available to the pub... More and accountability. We welcome Mexico’s embrace of open government principles and look forward to their leadership in the coming year.”

Open Government Partnership is a multilateral initiative aimed at securing concrete commitments from governments to promote transparency, increase civic participation, fight corruption and harness new technologies to make government more open, effective and accountable. It is fostering new ways of the citizen and the state working together to solve common problems.

OGP was formally launched in September 2011 when eight founding governments – Brazil, Indonesia, Mexico, Norway, Philippines, South Africa, United Kingdom and United States – endorsed an Open Government DeclarationThe Open Government Declaration is the declaration of commitment to upholding the principles of open and transparent government, approved by the founding countries of OGP in 2011. Countries are requir..., and published national OGP action plans with specific open government reform commitments. In just two years, the eight founding OGP countries have been joined by a 56 more countries bringing the total to 65 participating countries. Their combined population is over 2 billion, based on the 2012 statistics from the World Bank (the latest available figures).

Mexico’s commitment to open government includes expanding access to government services online, and digital democracy tools to make government actions and government spending more transparent by making them available online. Mexico launched a National Digital Strategy last year, coordinated by presidential advisor Alejandra Lagunes, with the goal of placing Mexico first among Latin American nations on the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) Digital Engagement Index.

The purpose of the National Digital Strategy is to strengthen digital engagement in Mexico to provide greater access to economic, political and social benefits that will improve the quality of life for all Mexicans. The National Digital Strategy for Mexico coordinates private and digital resources toward development goals in governmental transformation, digital economy, quality educationAccountability within the public education system is key to improving outcomes and attainment, and accountability is nearly impossible without transparent policies and opportunities for participation ..., universal health care and public safety.