On February 23, 2022, organized by the Foundation Open Society – Macedonia, the Ministry of Information Society and Administration, the Center for Civil Communications and the Association for Emancipation, Solidarity and Equality of Women, a High-Level Conference was held to promote the fifth National Action Plan for Open Government Partnership 2021-2023. The conference also marked the 10th anniversary of North Macedonia’s accession to the international Open Partnership Initiative.
The conference was held as part of the activities of the project “Support to the process of implementation and monitoring of the National Action Plan for Open Government Partnership 2021-2023”, which is funded by the Secretariat of the Open Government Partnership.
Addressees at the conference were Prime Minister of the Republic of North Macedonia, Dimitar Kovacevski, Minister of Information Society and Administration, Admir Aliti; Chief Executive Officer of the Open Government Partnership Sanjay Pradhan; and the Executive Director of the Foundation Open Society – Macedonia, Fani Karanfilova-Panovska.
The Prime Minister of the Republic of North Macedonia, Dimitar Kovacevski, referred to the benefits of the Open Government Partnership process, emphasizing that the Government in close and productive cooperation with the civil and business sector remains fully committed to implementing the principles of open government. “That involvement of all stakeholders as partners and as control mechanisms has made this Government more transparent and more accountable. The process has created a basis for participation, for efficient management of public resources, for building an integrity system, and for creating an environment for access to information and open data,” – he pointed out. He also noted that this concept in North Macedonia has been accepted and is now practiced by the municipalities, the Parliament and the judiciary, which is a comprehensive government contribution to the rule of law.
The Minister of Information Society and Administration, Admirim Aliti, whose Ministry coordinates the Open Government Partnership process in North Macedonia, emphasized the recognizable results achieved by this initiative, noting that they remain committed to the use of technology for greater engagement and involvement of citizens in the decision-making process and the introduction of higher standards of integrity. “Open finances and the availability of information on payments of state institutions to companies, other institutions and individuals through https://open.finance.gov.mk/mk/home, the Citizens’ Budget, increasing the deadline for consultation on ENER draft laws, the availability of more than 300 data sets on the open data portal, measures to improve access to justice, the establishment of a register of real owners are just some of the results achieved.” In his speech, he also noted that the innovative tools of this initiative enabled greater transparency and accountability of the municipalities in our country, where last year they were announced as one of the global winners of the Open Government Partnership Summit held in Seoul, Republic of Korea.
The Chief Executive Officer of the Open Government Partnership, Sanjay Pradhan, in his video address thanked the reformers and open government leaders from North Macedonia for their active, dynamic and committed participation in the Open Government Partnership. He shared satisfaction with the enthusiasm for an open government seen by former Prime Minister Zaev and urged the current Prime Minister to remain committed to the concept of open government and to maintain a commitment to the Open Government Partnership process. “An open government partnership achieves three goals – first, it increases citizens’ confidence, second, it strengthens investor confidence, and third, it advances the EU accession agenda.” He acknowledged the important role played by the representatives of the civil society in the country, who formed the Network of Civil Society Organizations for the Open Government Partnership.
The Executive Director of the Foundation Open Society – Macedonia, Fani Karanfilova-Panovska, in her address said that the Foundation is always focused on improving the environment in which civil society works and develops and therefore the involvement of civil society organizations in all creation processes is particularly important in the process of creating public policies. “That is why the Foundation initiated the process of establishing a Network of CSOs for Open Government Partnership and for establishing a national Open Government Partnership Council,” she said. The Network and the Council are essentially a contribution to the formation of the national structure, for the participation of the representatives of the civil society in these mechanisms with an equal number as the institutions. At the very end, she said, that at the initiative of the Foundation Open Society, our country is the first country in the Western Balkans to include a priority area Access to Justice in the National Action Plan. As a benefit of the achievements in the field of Access to Justice and the established cooperation between the local civil society organization and the municipal authorities is the establishment of the Center for Access to Justice open in the municipality of Šuto Orizari, through which more than 2,500 services were provided in the field of health and social protection, child protection, employment, etc.
At the high-level conference, the participants also addressed the other benefits of the Open Government Partnership process and the importance of involving all stakeholders in this process; gave an overview of the process in which the priority areas were identified during the co-creation of the National Action Plan for Open Government Partnership 2021-2023 (NAP for OGP 2021-2023); and shared plans to implement and monitor the commitments of the National Open Government Partnership Action Plan 2021-2023.
Also, the participants at the conference agreed that the dedicated work of the Open Government Partnership initiative and the use of technology to promote the openness of institutions affect the improvement of the quality of life of citizens.
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23 February 2022