CONFERENCE ON PUBLIC SECTOR REFORM OPENS IN BERLIN

25 January 1996

Press Release
DEV/2089

CONFERENCE ON PUBLIC SECTOR REFORM OPENS IN BERLIN

19960125 BERLIN, 24 January -- Reform of public administration as central to the economic and social transformation under way in Central and Eastern Europe, and as critical for developed countries coping with the challenges of globalization was a theme of a meeting here of senior government officials from 20 European countries organized by the United Nations.

The three-day regional conference on public administration in promoting economic reform was cosponsored 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 is part of the preparatory process for the resumed fiftieth session of the General Assembly, to be held from 15 to 19 April, on the issue of public administration and development.

Addressing the opening meeting, the Department's Director of the Division of Public Information and Development Management, Guido Bertucci, stressed that a proactive, strong and creative government was not necessarily a big or bureaucratic one. Rather than being concerned with pre-emptive controls of all facets of national life and involved in the production of goods and services, governments should focus on creating and sustaining an environment in which such goods and services could be produced efficiently. What was needed, he said, was a government that respected and protected the rights of private citizens, that listened and communicated, whose public services were responsive and accountable and whose decision-making processes were transparent and open to public review.

The Director-General of the German Foundation for International Development, Heize Buhler, said that the recent experience of East Germany had shown that the economic reform process could be mastered and that the transition of society and government was possible, although at tremendous cost. However, reform of public administration followed only very slowly.

He went on to say that Germany had acknowledged that the manifold social and economic development problems of the South could not be resolved by technical assistance or cooperation alone; structural reforms were required at the local, national and international levels. The challenge of a new framework of sustained international development had repercussions for

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cooperation in the field of public administration. Institution-building had to be adapted to the new challenges and the problems had to be identified and tackled on the basis of genuine partnership.

The meeting was also addressed by Roland Mauch, Head of the United Nations Affairs Division of the German Ministry for Foreign Affairs, who said that following unification, Germany was undergoing a profound process of change including a constant move to modernize the public sector and to redirect the role of the State. Earlier calls for well-organized administration to deal with the new challenges had now given way to demands for cutting back bureaucracy. Cutting financial resources was sometimes the only way to force reforms.

Other speakers included Uwe Fischer, speaking on behalf of the Berlin Senate, who said the joining of the two halves of the city was still a major task, less on the economic side than on the psychological side. The east of the city was in fact going through a process of economic reform which, although painful, had already begun to show success. Anton Kruiderink, UNDP's Assistant Administrator and Regional Director for Eastern Europe and the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), said the topic of public administration reform would be reflected in the individual country chapters in the UNDP Human Development Report.

The opening session was followed by presentations on the four main topics of the conference: policy planning and management; legal and institutional framework; civil service reform and training; and resource mobilization and public expenditure management.

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