NDI congratulates the Republic of Kosovo on its admission to the Open Government Partnership (OGP) during its summit in Tallinn, Estonia on September 6 - 7, 2023.  “This milestone highlights the impressive progress of Kosovo’s young democracy,” said Nancy Soderberg, NDI’s Senior Country Director in Kosovo. “On behalf of NDI, I congratulate the government of Kosovo, especially the Forum on Transparency, for its critical role in paving the way for Kosovo's admission to OGP." 

Working in partnership with civil society, Kosovo’s parliament has seen great progress developing as a participatory, transparent, and accountable institution, and serves as an example  in the Western Balkans. Since the creation of Kosovo’s Assembly in 2001, Members of Parliament (MPs) have demonstrated a commitment to the democratic principles of the OGP. 

"Kosovo’s OGP membership is an extremely important achievement for us,” said the Speaker of Kosovo’s Assembly Glauk Konjufca.  “It follows a long period of work and concrete activities to increase parliamentary transparency, based on the standards set by the OGP, thus proving our institutional commitment to promote the transparency culture, and to increase institutional accountability. We are grateful for our partnership with the National Democratic Institute in this important work. ”

Since the early symbolic act of removing physical barriers that had kept the public from accessing it, Kosovo’s Assembly has made impressive progress in transparency and accessibility to the public. In 2015, Kosovo’s Assembly endorsed the Global Declaration for Parliamentary Openness, setting forth the creation of the Assembly’s Forum for Transparency in which MPs, civil society organizations, and Assembly staff work together to make the Assembly open and accountable to all citizens.  The Assembly has endorsed two Action Plans based on the standards set by the OGP. Over the years through its Forum, the Assembly has improved its website through live streaming of the plenary sessions and implementing an electronic legislative tracking system that is accessible to the public, a “Kids Corner” and MP profiles. 

"Joining OGP gives Kosovo a proven platform to bring together a diversity of stakeholders and deliver transformative reforms that make the government deliver better for citizens and strengthens the democratic backbone, said Paul Maassen, OGP's Chief, Country Support. “We welcome Kosovo and hope that they will use their OGP membership to further improve their open government track record.”

 

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