Montenegro among 7 shortlisted countries vying for OGP Bright Spots award

London, United Kingdom (29 October 2013) – Montenegro’s Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs and European Integration Igor Lukšić met Tuesday in London with UK Minister for the Cabinet Office Francis Maude on the eve of the Summit of the Open Government Partnership (OGP), which is to be held in London on 31 October – 1 November. Montenegro is among the seven shortlisted countries vying for the OGP Bright Spots award.

Minister Maude praised the activities Montenegro has developed in cooperation with the civil society in preparing the OGP Action Plan, highlighting the measures that were declared among top 10 measures of all member states at the previous OGP summit.

Mr Maude reiterated that Montenegro has been shortlisted for the OGP’s initiative Bright Spots Award, which praises good examples of open government practice. Project from Montenegro, a mobile app entitled "Be responsible", allows citizens to report local problems to the decision-makers, and is being implemented by the Government of Montenegro, UNDP office in Montenegro and the creative team of the Faculty of Electrical Engineering in Podgorica. 

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/bright-spots-of-open-government-to-be-recognised-at-global-summit

Minister Maude said that the Open Government Partnership is a strong platform for partnership with the civil society, which has given good results in strengthening transparency of institutions and openness of public policies. He noted that the United Kingdom, during its one-year presidency, is trying to help develop the initiative, which nowadays involves 57 countries worldwide, by setting a personal example.

Deputy Prime Minister Lukšić informed the UK Minister about the activities Montenegro carried out in the period between the two conferences regarding the implementation of measures from the Action Plan. He underlined the importance of cooperation between civil society and government in developing the platform in Montenegro, adding that the additional contribution to the government policies’ transparency was made through involving NGOs in the EU negotiation process, creation of public policies and establishment of the e-petitions platform.

DPM Lukšić also emphasised that measures related to the advancement of business environment are being regularly implemented in order to define clear and transparent procedures with short deadlines. In that regard, he pointed out yesterday’s World Bank Doing Business report, which ranks Montenegro 44th when ease of doing business is considered.

Montenegro’s Deputy Prime Minister said that Montenegro remains committed to the process of innovation in regard to the OGP Action Plan, both in terms of redefining existing measures and designing new ones.

Open Government Partnership is a multilateral institution with the aim of ensuring governments’ commitment to boosting transparency, strengthening the role of the public in policy-making process, fight against corruption and promotion of new technologies to strengthen good governance through the government–citizens cooperation. The partnership was established in 2011 by 8 national governments: Brazil, Indonesia, Norway, South Africa, Mexico, the USA and the United Kingdom, and nine civil society organisations.