The Ministry of the Interior and Safety (MOIS) of the Republic of Korea dispatched a delegation, headed by Mr. Kim Iljae, Deputy Minister for Government Innovation and Organization Management Office, to the Asia Pacific Leaders’ Forum on Open Government, which took place on December 15 in Jakarta, Indonesia.

The event drew about 200 policy makers and civil society organizations from the Open Government Partnership (OGP) member states in the Asia-Pacific region. The leaders attending the forum discussed a wide-range of issues under the theme of “Open Government for Inclusive Development.”

Main agenda items were 1) Achieving poverty reduction and economic development through open government; 2) Building trust and public integrity; 3) Public service delivery for inclusive growth; and 4) The role of open government in environmental sustainability.

Deputy Minister Kim Iljae introduced Korea’s best practices regarding open government, including the “Gwanghwamoon 1st Street” through which the Moon Jae-in administration has accepted over 180,000 policy proposals of citizens and reflected them into the national policy roadmap, the ‘e-People’ which is a regular channel to receive proposals and civil complaints from citizens, and the Citizen-Participatory Budget System in which citizens participate the entire budgeting process of local governments. OGP member states and participants responded magnificently to his presentation.

Moreover, Deputy Minister Kim expressed the Korean government’s willingness to further expand public participation in the policymaking process to improve policy inclusiveness and restore public trust in government.

At the event, President Joko Widodo of Indonesia delivered a keynote speech and Justice Minister Thea Tsulukiani of Georgia as well as Executive Director Mukelani Dimba, Co-Chairs of OGP, attended the forum. Senior policymakers such as Communications Minister Nurbek Abaskanov of Kyrgyzstan and Budget Management Secretary Benjamin Diokno of the Philippines joined the event.

The Philippines introduced the Citizen Auditing System which is aimed at promoting a more transparent and efficient private-public partnership, and Indonesia presented a civil complaint receipt channel called “Lapor” that helped improve public services from detecting a sinkhole in an island area to fixing broken traffic lights in Jakarta.

Both the Philippines and Indonesia improved their public services by participating in OGP, a global initiative. Launched in 2011, OGP is committed to promoting an open and transparent government by bringing about substantial changes in societies for government transparency, public participation and anti-corruption.

The Philippines and Indonesia led the foundation of OGP with the United States, the United Kingdom, Norway, Brazil and Mexico. In particular, Indonesia served as a Co-Chair of OGP and hosted the OGP Asia-Pacific Regional Forum in 2014 and has been working as a member of the Steering Committee, OGP’s decision-making body. Indonesia’s term as a Steering Committee member will end in September 2018.

Deputy Minister Kim stated that “Korea has been under the global spotlight as one of the leaders in democracy and open government.” “As Korea was elected a member of OGP Steering Committee, we will share more innovative government reform initiatives with the international community. By hosting the OGP Asia-Pacific Regional Forum at the end of 2018, Korea hopes to greatly contribute to promoting open and transparent government on a globe,” he added.