On November 28-29, 2011, the 7th OECD-MENA Working Group Meeting II was held in Seoul at the Lotte Hotel with the Ministry of Public Administration and Security (MOPAS) organizing the meeting and NIA sponsoring the event. The purpose of the meeting is to support the development of public governance

in the Middle East, North Africa (MENA) region.



The 7th meeting of the Working Group II on Open and Innovative Government had the agenda of; "Open to be innovative: a new partnership between citizens and their government," jointly organized by the Republic of Korea and the MENA-OECD Governance Programme, was the first meeting after the recent change of name and scope of the Working Group. The importance of the timing of this meeting is twofold: firstly, it takes place at a transitional time for several MENA countries that, notwithstanding the

achievements so far realized, are still in the process of addressing the demands of their populations and identifying optimal ways to meet them. Secondly, the focus on open and innovative policies in the public sector is also in the heart of OECD countries || chr(39) || || chr(39) || discussions on the use of ICT to increase citizen || chr(39) || || chr(39) || s participation, boost performance and improve the quality and efficiency of service delivery. Already in 2010/2011, the MENA-OECD Governance Programme, within the context of this Working Group, has implemented numerous activities to support Arab countries in the field of e-government.



At this meeting that was just held in Seoul, there were leaders who lead e-government from 19 MENA || chr(39) || || chr(39) || s member countries and 34 OECD || chr(39) || || chr(39) || s member countries who participated. MOPAS hosted this meeting in order to strengthen Korea || chr(39) || || chr(39) || s national privilege as a leading country on e-government and to support development of public governance in Middle Eastern and North African countries.



In the opening ceremony, Nam-Seok Kim, Vice Minister of MOPAS mentioned that the Korean government will give full support to build public governance in Middle Eastern and African countries and also Korean government is willing to share experiences and know-how in order that these countries can avoid undergoing as much trial and error as possible. NIA President Seang-Tae Kim delivered a keynote speech during the Opening Session of the meeting where he stated, "The new role of the government will be to progress from traditional planning and service oriented government to creating a || chr(39) || || chr(39) || stage for open cooperation || chr(39) || || chr(39) || which can bring a synergy of creative ideas of the people and know-how of the government. Or simply put, the government should transform itself into a || chr(39) || || chr(39) || platform based government || chr(39) || || chr(39) ||

- a Smart Government that can facilitate || chr(39) || || chr(39) || open state management based on creative people power. || chr(39) || || chr(39) || President Kim on behalf of NIA sponsored a Welcoming Dinner on November 29th where he delivered a toast to all participants.



The 7th OECD-MENA Working Group Meeting II was complemented by a study tour of Korean best practices in the area of e-government that provided participants with an excellent opportunity to witness e-government in the making and discuss concrete implementation issues with their Korean

counterparts.