Skopje, 7 May 2025 (MIA) — Minister of Public Administration Goran Minchev met Wednesday with Open Government Partnership Secretariat high officials to discuss the country's ongoing reforms, deepening the partnership between the government and the secretariat, and strengthening a culture of governance that promotes the principles of transparency, integrity, accountability and stakeholder participation in support of democracy and inclusive growth.

According to an official press release, the working meeting was attended by Paul Braithwaite, who leads OGP's Country Support work in Europe; Sandra Pernar, OGP's senior regional coordinator for Europe; and Matthew Tramonti, OGP’s Independent Reporting Mechanism research officer.

Minister Minchev stressed his support for their initiative to hold a government session dedicated to the OGP, a global partnership of 77 countries and over 150 local jurisdictions working with thousands of civil society organizations to build more open, inclusive and accountable governments.

"This session will send a strong signal of our high political commitment to transparency, accountability and inclusion — values the government's work is based on," the public administration minister said.

According to him, the session would make it possible to evaluate the state's progress, define future steps and open a dialogue on new ideas and initiatives.

Minchev said the ministry's priorities were to improve public access to government information, transparency, accountability and participation of the public in policymaking.

"These principles are not a parallel process but the essence of our daily governance," he said.

The talks then focused on how the public administration reform could increase efficiency and trust through encouraging public participation and making institutions more open and transparent.

The minister highlighted that the government needed to "create space for the civil sector and establish new mechanisms of dialogue and cooperation."

Ahead of the 2025 OGP Global Summit, set to be held in Spain in October, meeting participants also considered the ways the government could present its efforts and anticorruption activities, digitization and participatory policymaking progress.

They also voiced their shared commitment to the values of transparent, participatory and collaborative governance as the driver of change and democracy in the country. mr/