UNITED NATIONS CONFERENCE ON PUBLIC SECTOR REFORM IN EASTERN AND CENTRAL EUROPE

18 January 1996

Press Release
DEV/2088

UNITED NATIONS CONFERENCE ON PUBLIC SECTOR REFORM IN EASTERN AND CENTRAL EUROPE

19960118 24 to 26 January, Berlin

VIENNA, 18 January (UN Information Service) -- Officials and experts from more than 20 Eastern, Central and Western European nations will be among the participants at a United Nations conference in Berlin this months that will examine the role of public administration in countries with economies in transition.

The three-day conference on "The Role of Public Administration in Promoting Economic Reform": is organized and co-sponsored by the German Foundation for International Development, the United Nations Department for Development Support and Management Services and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). It will bring together senior government officials with specialists from civil society, including representatives of chambers of commerce, private-sector associations, academics and non-governmental organizations. Countries represented will include Albania, Armenia, Bulgaria, Belarus, Czech Republic, Estonia, France, Germany, Georgia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Netherlands, Poland, Republic of Moldova, Romania, Russian Federation, Slovak Republic, Slovenia, Ukraine and the United Kingdom.

The meeting in Berlin is one of three United Nations conferences in preparation of the United Nations resumed fiftieth General Assembly session on public administration and development which will run from 15 to 19 April in New York. A Rio conference will focus on the role of public administration in promoting environmentally sustainable development, and a Rome conference will discuss institutional and administrative rebuilding after conflict. The reports of these meetings will be tabled at the resumed Assembly session, which has been scheduled in response to the world-wide trend towards redefining the role of the State and reforming the public sector towards greater effectiveness and efficiency. The session is mandated to examine the question of public administration and development, exchange experiences, review the activities of the United Nations in this field and make recommendations.

Modernizing and reforming the public sector is a major and urgent task facing Eastern and Central European countries as they pursue their transition from a centrally planned to a free-market economy and begin to integrate their

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economies into the global market. The challenge will be to redirect the State's role from one of direct involvement in the production of goods and services to the functions of development, regulation and sustaining an enabling framework.

To respond to this process and to assist these countries in building appropriate public sector capacities, the Berlin conference will focus on the following four objectives: analysing the critical administrative dimensions and implications of economic reform in the areas of policy planning, management, resource mobilization, public expenditure management, legal frameworks and civil service reform; comparing experiences of these countries; reviewing relevant experience of developing countries; and developing practical recommendations.

Through its Department for Development Support and Management Services, the United Nations assist government in improving public management capacities in a number of areas, such as generating and disseminating information and experience, and customizing on request the best and most appropriate systems and practices, for use in developing countries and economies in transition. As a clearing house and service-oriented catalyst in the field of public administration and development, the Department's activities include research, analysis, advisory services, information and administrative reform, diagnosis, project support and technical assistance, policy formulation and implementation strategies, resource mobilization and multilateral coordination.

Through its Public Administration Promotion Centre, the German Foundation for International Development lends support to its partner countries in establishing professionally qualified and efficient public administration on a national, regional and municipal level. Since 1962, it has held dialogue and advanced training events to promote the international exchange of experience and the training of specialists and executives in administration. The Foundation cooperates with institutions in developing countries as well as increasingly with countries with economies in transition, regional specialized institutions and international organizations. To accomplish its task, the Centre uses a comprehensive set of instruments, such as international conferences, seminars, training programmes, follow-up events, expert assignments, expert reports, study tours, publications and study materials.

Three historic developments of the 1990s have prompted the United Nations to focus on public administration and governance in the resumed fiftieth General Assembly session. They are an increased global economic interdependence, the demand for increased participation in governance and an increased emphasis on issues of social justice. The international community acknowledged these priorities in a series of world conferences and summits held in the 1990s (on environment in 1992, on human rights in 1993, on population in 1994, on social development in 1995, on women in 1995), urging States to provide adequate public sector capacities and policy frameworks.

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