Jordan Times
Tuesday, February 8, 2005
Conference participants adopt
good governance initiative
DEAD SEA (Petra) — Participants at the good governance conference, which
concluded yesterday, adopted the good governance initiative as the methodology
for development in the Arab countries.
The closing statement, read by Minister of Justice Salah Bashir who is head of
the initiative's steering committee, highlighted the need to approve the
initiative's six reform areas which are adopted by six Arab states.
The areas targeted by the reform plans focus on: Civil service and integrity,
the role of judiciary and enforcement of judicial decisions, e-government,
administrative and regulatory reform, the role of civil society and media in
public sector reform, governance of public finances and public service delivery.
The statement reaffirmed the participating countries' commitment to the
implementation of the initiative's plans on the national and regional levels, as
well as their commitment to designing standards, criteria and indicators by
which progress in the initiative's implementation is measured.
The statement highlighted the need for the participating countries to sign the
United Nations Convention Against Corruption.
It also called for national plans on each reform area, and requested the G-8
group, the World Bank, the United Nations Development Programme and the
Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development to provide technical and
financial assistance needed to implement the initiative.
A similar plea was also made to donor countries, Arab funds and international
and regional organisations, asking for their technical and financial support.