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OAS Secretary General Receives Legislators from Chile and Mexico to Advance Open Parliaments Agenda

The Secretary General of the Organization of American States (OAS), José Miguel Insulza, today received at the headquarters of the hemispheric institution in Washington, DC, a delegation of parliamentarians from Chile and Mexico, with whom he discussed possible ways to advance the Open Parliament initiative in the region, led by the visiting legislators.

The Secretary General of the OAS and the legislators talked about the fundamental principles of the initiative focused on the importance of providing more mechanisms to bring greater transparency to the legislatures of the region, through increased dissemination of information contained in public documents; greater citizen participation; and greater accountability in legislative efforts at the national, regional and municipal levels.

They also discussed the possibility of incorporating the initiative within the systems studied by the Mechanism for Follow-Up on the Implementation of the Inter-American Convention against Corruption (MESICIC), of the OAS, in which 31 OAS Member States take part. They also expressed interest in adding the project to the Latin American Network for Legislative Transparency, which is currently composed by Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Guatemala, Mexico, Peru and Venezuela,.

Secretary General Insulza and the parliamentarians shared an interest in adding to the agenda of Open Parliament the principles of the Open Government Partnership (OGP), in which 60 countries participate, and in particular the chapter on Legislative Openness, which seeks to promote transparency and the fight against corruption through the empowerment of citizens and the use of new technologies in parliaments.

In addition, as part of the Open Parliament agenda, the OAS and the Documentation Sciences Foundation (FCD) of Spain signed on Monday, June 17, a memorandum of understanding aimed at strengthening the management of legislative powers in the region through actions to promote transparency, access to public information and citizen participation. The document sets out the terms and conditions to promote and accompany common efforts and initiatives aimed at institutional strengthening; diagnostic studies; the conservation and organization of files and documentation; as well as the analysis and production of classes for the training of legislators, political leaders and public officials on issues related to access to and management of the information of legislative bodies at different levels.

A gallery of photos of the event is available here.

The B-roll of the event will available here.

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

Reference: E-247/13