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OAS Assistant Secretary General Says Inclusive Governance is Necessary for Prosperity with Equity

The Assistant Secretary General of the Organization of American States (OAS), Albert Ramdin, participated last week in Pachuca, Hidalgo State, Mexico in the III Inter-American Conference on “Innovative Experiences for Effective Public Management” and the II Meeting of High-Level Authorities of the Inter-American Cooperation Mechanism for Effective Public Management (MECIGEP), together with Ministers, Deputy Ministers and High-Level Public Management Authorities from OAS member states.

Ambassador Ramdin, said the main challenge for democratic governance is the “exercise of democracy,” and highlighted the importance of modernization of public institutions and capacity building both within and outside public administration. Ramdin said that creating prosperity with equity will not be possible without inclusive governance. “Efforts should be made to enhance the trust of citizens in their governments and the institutions that provide necessary service through promoting transparency and e-governance,” he added.

The conference, organized by the Department of Effective Public Management of the OAS, with the support of the Government of Canada and the Municipality of Pachuca de Soto, also featured the participation of the Secretary for Public Administration of Mexico, Virgilio Andrade, who said that “efficiency in public management is synonymous with the democratization of governments.” In addition, Secretary Andrade emphasized that governments must offer better services to the different sectors of society.

During the conclusions, the OAS Secretary for Political Affairs, Kevin Casas Zamora, highlighted the importance of open government principles, effective public management at the local level, and the innovative experiences in public management being developed in the region, as well as the way in which these issues contribute to strengthening democratic governance and governmental legitimacy in the region.

In the meeting, the High-Level Authorities of Public Administration of the region also learned the results of the Rounds of Analysis of the Inter-American Cooperation Mechanism for Effective Public Management (MECIGEP), through a presentation of the reports resulting from each round, and expressed their support for the work of the mechanism.

Likewise, Ambassador Ramdin presented the prizes to the winners of the Inter-American Award on Innovation for Effective Public Management (2014) to the following: Secretariat for Public Administration – Mexico – Survey of organizational climate and culture in Federal Public Administration (ECCO); Secretariat of Planning and Management of the State of Pernambuco – Brazil - Programa Mae Coruja Pernambucana; Metropolitan Municipality of Lima – Peru – Municipal experience in the implementation and coordination of social policies of reparations; National Office of Civil Service – ONSC – Uruguay - Uruguay Concursa.

A gallery of photos of the event is available here.

For more information, please visit the OAS Website at www.oas.org.

Reference: E-074/15