Govt committed to adopt international standards of governance: finance minister

ISLAMABAD: Finance Minister Ishaq Dar on Saturday said the government was fully committed to ensure transparency and adopt international standards of governance.

“The government’s accessions to the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development Convention on Mutual Administrative Assistance in Tax Matters and submission of letter of intent to join Open Government Partnership (OGP) are proofs of the government’s commitment,” he said while chairing a meeting in Islamabad regarding OPG initiative.

Finance secretary and senior officials of the Finance Division and Economic Affairs Division (EAD) attended the meeting.

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The EAD officials briefed the finance minister on the progress of the National Action Plan (NAP) being prepared for submission to OGP.

They informed the minister that input for the NAP had been obtained from most of the stakeholders, and EAD was in process of gathering the remaining input.

Dar directed the EAD to ensure that input and commitments from all stakeholders were incorporated in the the NAP.

He further directed that a broader-level consultation with all stakeholders may be held prior to the submission of the NAP to the Cabinet for approval, and subsequent submission to the OGP Secretariat.

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It may recalled that Pakistan had already met the eligibility threshold for membership to OGP, achieving 15 out of the 16 criteria.

The Finance Minister handed over Pakistan’s Letter of Intent to join OGP to the French president during the fourth biennial OGP Global Summit held in Paris in December 2016.

An important requirement of OGP is for the government to develop a national action plan in consultation with civil society and private sector, and to define commitments to foster transparency, accountability and public participation in all government processes.