Twenty-eight countries have committed to participate in the Open Government Partnership and the list may grow by another dozen, according to informed sources.
The official tally of countries having sent in a “letter of intent” was first made available early in the week of Sept. 5 and has been growing incrementally during the week. The Sept. 9 additions were the Dominican Republic, Liberia, the Netherlands and Spain.
The list of OGP members now stands at 28. The OGP website lists 20 countries that have agreed to participate in addition to the eight founding members. Seventy-nine countries were eligible under OGP criteria.
The list is: Albania, Bulgaria, Croatia, Dominican Republic, Estonia, Georgia, Guatemala, Honduras, Israel, Italy, Kenya, Liberia, Lithuania, Macedonia, Malta, Moldova, Mongolia, Netherlands, Slovakia and Spain.
Knowledgeable sources say that more than 30 countries have signaled their intention to join.
The original eight country members are: the United States and Brazil (co-chairs), South Africa, the United Kingdom, Norway, Mexico, Indonesia and the Philippines.
The information is posted on the OGP website.
(See previous FreedomInfo.org reports on the OGP by clicking on “open government partnership” under “latest tags.”)
The OGP also unveiled the agenda for the “Power of Open” conference Sept. 20 in New York City, revealing that Philippines President Benigno Aguino, who is being criticized for holding up national freedom of information legislation, will be the keynote speaker.
The conference is being held in conjunction with the Sept. 20 OGP event at which heads of state will appear.
The eight founding members are expected to announce their action plans at the Sept. 20 kick-off meeting in New York City, and the others will prepare their open government commitments for a meeting to be held in March 2012 in Brazil.
OGP Steering Committee to Issue Minutes
FreedomInfo.org has learned that the OGP steering committee has decided to post minutes of its meetings and agendas.
The last steering committee meeting was Aug. 26 and the next meeting in scheduled for Sept. 19, a day before the Sept. 20 kick-off event in New York City.
The OGP initiative is a multi-stakeholder coalition of governments and civil society organizations working to advance transparency and accountability in government on numerous fronts. The steering committee includes representatives from the eight founding countries and nine civil society organizations.
Norway Seeks Input
Norway, a member of the steering committee, has invited Norwegian organizations to a meeting to inform them about the initiative and invite their input, according to an official announcement Sept. 7 (in Swedish).
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