Montenegro establishes Open Government Partnership Operational Team

On 24 December 2014, Montenegro established its second Operational Team for the Open Government Partnership (OGP) initiative. The Team’s coordinator is Srđan Kusovac, Head of the Public Relations Bureau and Adviser to the Prime Minister. 

The OGP Operational Team is tasked with preparing and drafting Montenegro’s second Action Plan in accordance with the Open Government Partnership principles, evaluating and monitoring the implementation of measures from the Action Plan, and promoting the OGP and its values. It will work on ensuring transfer of best practice and experience with the view to ensuring constructive cooperation between the public administration and the civil society. Its main objectives are to help involve citizens in policy-making, create added social and economic value, and improve the quality of life of citizens. The Team will report quarterly to the Government.

Members of the OGP Operational Team are mid-level and senior civil servants from the Government’s Secretariat-General, ministries of justice, the interior, information society, and foreign affairs and European integration, as well as civil society representatives from prominent NGOs in Montenegro: Centre for Civic Education, Centre for Democratic Transition, Institute Alternative, MANS, and UPIS.

The OGP Operational Team’s first meeting is scheduled for Monday, 29 December 2014. The Decision on the Team’s establishment, as well as related materials, may be found at: http://www.gsv.gov.me/sekretarijat/ogp.

Open Government Partnership (OGP) is a multilateral initiative which aims to secure concrete commitment from governments to promote transparency, empower citizens, fight corruption and harness new technologies to strengthen governance through cooperation between governments and citizens. Montenegro was one of the first countries to join the initiative, which today brings together 64 countries from throughout the world.