CONFERENCE ON ROLE OF PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION IN DEVELOPMENT CONCLUDES IN MANILA
Press Release
DEV/2102*
CONFERENCE ON ROLE OF PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION IN DEVELOPMENT CONCLUDES IN MANILA
19960321 The regional conference for Asia on the role of public administration in promoting economic development concluded in Manila on Wednesday, 20 March, by recommending that countries share each other's experience in areas of good governance and institution-building.It further recommended that, as a manifestation of Asian unity and cooperation, public administration assistance should be provided to countries in the region which were emerging from crises and conflicts.
The three-day conference was hosted by the Civil Service Commission of the Philippines and was jointly organized and co-sponsored by the United Nations Department for Development Support and Management Services (DDSMS), Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP), United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), Asian Development Bank and the Commonwealth Secretariat.
The participants exchanged views on policy planning and management, strengthening legal and institutional frameworks, civil service reform and training, resource mobilization and public expenditure management.
Among its other recommendations, the Manila conference expressed the view that multilateral and bilateral institutions such as the United Nations and the Asian Development Bank should provide the lead in developing and implementing programmes on good governance. The United Nations could assist in the establishment of training institutions or improvement of existing institutions dealing with governance. The United Nations could also hasten the setting up of a clearing house on management development which could be available to member countries on a regular basis.
The conference called for wider publicity and more systematic dissemination of information on latest developments in various areas of public administration.
At the opening meeting on 18 March, Philippine Civil Service Commission Chairperson Corazon Alma G. de Leon was unanimously elected Chairperson of the Conference.
__________ * Press Release DEV/2102 dated 19 March should have been numbered DEV/2101.- 2 - Press Release DEV/2102 21 March 1996
In her statement to the Conference, Ms. de Leon said that the public administration was vital to accelerating, maintaining and spreading the fruits of economic growth. However, she also stressed that the role of public administration in promoting economic development in Asia could not be defined simply by reiterating the accepted norms and standards of what constituted public administration. "Despite the variances in culture and the varied array of political systems in the region, one commonality emerged among the high performing economies of the region: a strong and responsive system for civil governance and service delivery," she said.
The Executive Secretary of the Philippine Government, Ruben D. Torres, in his keynote address, underscored the importance of the Conference, given the emerging recognition that the quality of governance was as essential as political and policy regimes in providing an underpinning to national development. Such a shift in perspective called for a similar shift from "dated, borrowed metaphors" at improving governance, to metaphors that were sensitive to values, experiences and setting of a particular country. What was essential was to look at the best that each country's experience could offer and polish that through the process of cross-fertilization.
Representatives of the following countries also participated in the three-day meeting: Bangladesh, Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Maldives, Mongolia, Pakistan, Philippines, Singapore and Thailand. The meeting was attended by representatives of the DDSMS, ESCAP, UNDP, the Asian Development Bank, and the Commonwealth Secretariat, among others.
The conference was held in Manila in preparation for the resumed fiftieth session of the General Assembly, from 15 to 19 April. The session has been mandated by Assembly resolution A/49/136 which calls for the meeting to "examine the question of public administration and development, exchange experiences, review the activities of the United Nations in the field and make recommendations".
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