The Kingdom of Morocco Joins Open Government Partnership
Morocco Commits to Fostering More Open and Transparent Government Practices, Becomes 76th Country to Join Open Government Partnership
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 26, 2018.
Washington, D.C. – The Kingdom of Morocco has become the latest member of Open Government Partnership (OGP), a non-profit organization committed to bringing governments and their citizens closer together now working with 76 countries, 20 local governments, and thousands of organizations from civil society. This comes after the Moroccan government passed a law on access to information, which has been advocated by reformers in civil society and government for several years, and was crucial to their accession to OGP.
Sanjay Pradhan, Chief Executive Officer of Open Government Partnership said, “It is with great enthusiasm that we warmly welcome Morocco as newest member of OGP. We look forward to working with reformers in government and civil society to advance open government reforms, making government more transparent, participatory, responsive and accountable to citizens. We hope that with Morocco’s membership inspires other countries in the region to join the Partnership.”
Mohammmed Benabdelkader, Minister in charge of Administration Reform and Civil Service of the Kingdom of Morocco, expressed excitement to join OGP, considering it as “evidence that Morocco has undergone reforms for an increasingly open government. By adopting necessary regulation that enables citizens the right of access to information, enhancing opportunities for citizen participation, and opening up government and public administration data, we are likely to improve government efficiency and have a positive impact on social welfare and inclusive growth,” Minister Benabdelkader said.
Thea Tsulukiani, Minister of Justice of Georgia, the lead government Co-Chair of OGP’s Steering Committee, stated that “[A]s the OGP Lead Co-Chair, we are delighted to see that more countries around the world are eager to join Open Government Partnership and strengthen transparency across the board. We look forward to working with Morocco as they create their first National Action Plan and hope to see reformers in the Moroccan government and civil society in Tbilisi this July for the 5th Global OGP Summit.”
OGP’s Civil Society Steering Committee Co-Chair, Mukelani Dimba, applauded Morocco’s efforts in passing the law on access to information and reiterated the Steering Committee’s commitment to work with all countries to transform the way governments respond to their citizens. “Morocco joins a growing group of African countries that are showing commitment to advance the open government agenda and make governments more transparent, accountable, and responsive to the citizens they serve. We congratulate Morocco on becoming OGP’s newest member, and look forward to working with government and civil society reformers in the country to advance its open government agenda.”
This announcement comes just a few weeks after OGP welcomed five new local governments to its partnership. Morocco now joins 75 other countries and 20 local governments who, along with civil society groups, will co-create new action plans due in August 2018, working towards more inclusive and responsive governments. Most OGP participants will kick off their action plan development process during Open Gov Week, a global call to action to transform the way governments respond to their citizens happening on May 7-11.