Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa: Open Government Partnership Global summit

Remarks by Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa on the occasion of the Open Government Partnership Global Summit, Palacio De Bellas Artes, Mexico City

His Excellency, the President of the United Mexican States, President Enrique Pena Nieto,
Leaders of various Governments present with us today,
Members of the OGP Steering Committee,
Mayors in attendance,
Leaders of Civil Society,
Leaders of Business,
Distinguished delegates,
 Ladies and gentlemen

It is my honour and gratitude to address this Open Government Partnership (OGP) Summit taking place in this culturally rich and vibrant city of Mexico.
 
We thank you, President Nieto, the government and the people of Mexico for the excellent arrangements extended to my delegation and I since our arrival.
 
Equally we extend our appreciation to Mexico for hosting this Summit. We also thank Mexico for the outstanding leadership it provided as Chair of the OGP.
 
For our country and our President Jacob Zuma whom I represent here, this Summit is even more special because of the honour, trust and confidence expressed in South Africa to assume the critical responsibility of being Lead Chair of the OGP.
 
Mexico’s leadership and role in the OGP since its inception in the past four years to the time when it became Lead Chair has been exemplary. We want to assure you, Mr President that South Africa and France as the Co-Chair, will be as committed as Mexico in providing sterling leadership to the OGP.

This international platform was launched in 2011 to lead efforts aimed at making governments more open, accountable, and responsive to citizens.
 
During our tenure we will ensure that the OGP and its principles of Open Government remains a cornerstone of global efforts towards a sustainable future for humanity. It is important that the OGP consistently lead by example. It must be the embodiment of the values and principles we wish others to emulate.
 
There are many lessons that we will be sharing from our own continent on how we think we can strengthen our internal mechanisms to ensure greater transparency and inclusive participation.

We believe there is a lot we can learn from how the African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM) conducts its business and ensures open, collegial, and equal participation of countries that partake in it.
 
Through the African Peer Review Mechanism, the African continent contributed significantly to the formulation of the goals and targets of the UN 2030 Agenda on Sustainable Development. History calls upon all of us to respond to people’s basic needs such as food, water, sanitation, healthcare and education.
 
With civil society and business, we are called upon to work together to reduce conflict, protect the environment, adhere to the rule of law, and promote technology and innovation.
 
Distinguished delegates,
 
The OGP offers all of us a unique opportunity to advance the 2030 Agenda on Sustainable Development.
 
As we know, Agenda 2030 establishes a set of global priorities around 17 goals and 169 targets to shift countries toward inclusive, sustainable development.
 
Our gathering here today is testimony to our commitment to leave behind a much better world than the one we inherited. We are here today in order to complement other global efforts that recognise the inevitable link between people, our planet and prosperity.
 
We all want to be part of solutions that ensure that ways of production and consumption are sustainable and that progress does not come at an irreversible cost to the environment.

Indeed we want to ensure that through openness and empowerment of citizens with information, social, technological and economic progress is in harmony with nature.
 
It is upon us to guarantee that the world we inhabit in the next fifteen years and beyond is defined by peace and the emancipation of women. Certainly, the  lessons of the Arab Spring and the current shocking human tragedy unfolding in the Middle East, must remind us that there is still much more to be done in addressing war, intolerance, poverty, hunger and deprivation.
 
It is heart-warming to observe that the OGP has been amongst the first to heed the call to support the implementation of the SDGs.
 
South Africa reaffirms its support of all efforts aimed at the realization of the SDG goal 16 which is a commitment to the promotion of peace, social inclusion, and justice.
 
The signing of the Joint Declaration on Open Government for the Implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development is a major contribution to our collective efforts at sustaining the global agenda for inclusive prosperity.
 
Your Excellencies and Esteemed delegates,
 
During our tenure as the Lead Chair of the OGP, we intend to:

  • Lead efforts and a conversation between ourselves to renew the vigour and political commitment that characterized the founding years of the OGP by proposing, among others, a standard annual parallel gathering of the Heads of State and Government on the side-lines of the United Nations General Assembly;
  •  Create platforms to engage the private sector in a dialogue on the need to ensure that it plays a role in promoting technology as an enabler in support of the OGP Declaration on SDGs;
  •  Ensure the optimal functioning of the Independent Review Mechanism by mobilizing resources that will ensure it harnesses and benefits from national capacity and resources in executing its mandate;
  • Promote initiatives that will ensure that National Action Plans reflect the commitments made in the OGP Declaration and promote goal 16 of the SDGs. This will include aligning our national plans and priorities with other global initiatives such as the 6th Session of the Conference of the State Parties to the United Nations Convention Against Corruption scheduled to take place in St. Petersburg in November 2015;
  • Create more space for South-South cooperation and sharing of lessons, resources and experiences in implementing the OGP. This will be done by engaging and promoting closer engagement with the G77 countries, among others but will not be done at the detriment of North – South cooperation and collaboration;
  • Advocate that the OGP conducts its work in a manner that takes into account uneven levels of development in participating countries as enshrined in the OGP Declaration;
  • Ensure that the OGP remains true to its cardinal principles of voluntarism, and that it does not become a tool of punishment but rather a platform for mutual learning and experience sharing in developing interventions that put people at the center of development;
  • Intensify awareness-raising of the OGP and the importance of Open Government at  national and international levels;
  •   Advocate for countries of the South to ensure that OGP priorities and commitments are well resourced by ensuring that they are integrated and aligned into National Development Plans.
  •   Where deemed necessary, initiate debate on organisational review and renewal; and
  •   Create platforms for experience sharing and best practice learning from other similar experiences and mechanisms such as the APRM in order to ensure complementarity and synergy, especially at a national level of participating countries in the African continent.

 Mr President,
 
South Africa remains committed to ensuring that we work harder in persuading OGP participating countries to ensure that the principles enshrined in the OGP Declaration in support of Agenda 2030 are mainstreamed into concrete country actions.
 
At the same time, we will advocate that these take into account the national and regional context within which countries find themselves in. In our case we will advocate for alignment of OGP country action plans with the African Unions Agenda 2063, among others.
 
We reaffirm our commitment to continue fostering and promoting the culture of open government that empowers its citizens and puts them at the centre of sustainable development. This is why we ensured that all processes employed in the development of our OGP Country Action result in commitments that resonate with issues raised by our people during consultations.
 
Our interventions and proposed solutions emanate from the expectations of our people.

Lastly, we would like to extend our warm hand of welcome to all the countries that are joining us in the OGP family today. We also welcome the OGP Ambassador, the Eminent Winnie Byanyima, the Executive Director of Oxfam International.
 
We are confident Ambassador that you will represent all of us well and we assure you of our unequivocal and unreserved support for your work.
 
I wish you all fruitful deliberations during the course of the Summit.  
 
I thank you.

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