ISLAMABAD: Pakistan is required to finalise and start implementing its first National Action Plan (NAP) on openness, transparency and citizens’ involvement in government decision-making by the end of October under international obligations. A delegation of the Open Government Partnership is currently in Pakistan to help finalise the plan, which requires the government to commit itself to extensive reforms in fiscal transparency, citizen engagement, access to justice, digital services and improving the business environment.

Joe Powell, deputy CEO of the OGP, told Dawn on Wednesday that Pakistan had taken a big step in December last year to join the global partnership, but the “hard task starts now” as the country needed to actually move towards transparency and reforms.

The delegation met Finance Minister Ishaq Dar and ministers and secretaries of the ministries of climate change, information technology, commerce, and law and justice. As a first step, Mr Dar promised to launch a tax directory of parliamentarians and public office-holders within days while the Ministry of Climate Change would make the data on climate change public.

Mr Powell said the OGP wanted the government and civil society of Pakistan to agree on a reform plan, but the biggest challenge would require a strong commitment by the government to implement these reforms.

Published in Dawn, July 27th, 2017