NAB values contribution of Open Government Partnership

OPG delegation meets with anti-corruption watchdog chief

ISLAMABAD: The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) values the contribution of the multi-stakeholder initiative Open Government Partnership.

This was stated by NAB Chairman Qamar Zaman Chaudhry during a meeting with the visiting delegation of Open Government Partnership (OGP) at the NAB Headquarters in Islamabad, said a statement released by the bureau on Saturday.



The OPG delegation was led by its deputy chief executive officer Joseph Powell.

During the meeting, Powell told Chaudhry that the OGP is a multi-stakeholder initiative focused on improving government transparency, accountability and responsiveness to citizens with the aim of improving services and reducing poverty.

He added that OGP was launched in September 2011 by eight founding governments in the presence of representatives from nine civil society organisations. Since then, the partnership has grown to include 75 countries, including Pakistan. It also includes hundreds of civil society organisations representing a third of world’s population.

Participating governments, Powell said, have made over 2,700 commitments to be more open and accountable to their citizens.

Chaudhry detailed that in Pakistan, NAB is the focal institution under the United Nations Convention against Corruption (UNCAC).



He added that all the concerned ministries, divisions, and departments of the government, including NAB (as the focal agency), have provided information and details to joint reviewers while implementing the UN Convention. Joint Reviewers of Pakistan, he said, had completed a country review and the country report had been approved by the government in line with its obligation under UNCAC.

The NAB chief said that corruption was the mother of all evils since it undermines economic development. Moreover, he reiterated Pakistan’s commitment to the UNCAC in eradicating corruption through an intensive and proactive awareness, prevention and enforcement strategy.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 30^th, 2017.