PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION REFORM SHOULD REFLECT SPECIFIC CULTURAL TRADITIONS, GENERAL ASSEMBLY RESUMED SESSION TOLD
Press Release
GA/9060
PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION REFORM SHOULD REFLECT SPECIFIC CULTURAL TRADITIONS, GENERAL ASSEMBLY RESUMED SESSION TOLD
19960416 Public administration reform efforts should be country-specific and reflect the traditions and culture of the State concerned, the General Assembly was told this afternoon, as it continued its resumed session on the role of public administration in development."There is no universal model whose success can be guaranteed everywhere", nor should the United Nations seek to promote one, the representative of China said. Cuba's First Deputy Minister of Finance and Prices said the United Nations should not become a centre for the control and surveillance of national public systems. Nigeria's Minister of National Planning stressed that donor countries must not seek to impose their conditionalities and methodologies on developing countries.
Several speakers cited measures being taken to facilitate the transition from centralized governments to a democratic, market-oriented model. The Minister of Environmental Protection and Regional Development of Latvia said his country was using the administrative systems of democratic European States as models for reform, but noted that opinions and beliefs among civil servants had been slow to shift, owing to years of Soviet administration.
The head of the Government and Institutions Department of the Overseas Development Administration of the United Kingdom said key issues to be addressed in the future included the fact that those having the greatest need also had the least political power. Further, increased attention must be given to the role of governance in conflict-management, and international cooperation to address issues of good government must also be promoted.
Statements were also made by the Minister for Labour of Côte d'Ivoire, the Secretary of State for Public Administration of Portugal, the First Deputy Minister of the Economy of Ukraine, the Minister for the Public Service and Administration of South Africa, the Minister of Labour and Public Service of Swaziland, the Secretary-General of the Office of the Civil Service Commission of Thailand, an expert at the National Institute of Administration of Indonesia, the Chairman of the Council for Public Administration of Mongolia, and the representative of Bahrain.
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Also this afternoon, the Acting President of the Assembly announced that Vanuatu had made the necessary payment to reduce its arrears below the amount specified in the United Nations Charter, by which it would have lost its voting rights.
The Assembly will meet again at 10 a.m. Wednesday, 17 April, to continue its discussion on the role of public administration in development.
Assembly Work Programme
The General Assembly met this afternoon in resumed session to continue its consideration of the role of public administration in development, particularly in developing countries and countries with economies in transition. (For background on the resumed session, see Press Release GA/9056 of 12 April.)
Statements
WANG XUEXIAN (China) said it was useful for States to exchange information and experiences on public administration and development and review the United Nations activities in that area.
However, he said, public administration was closely related to the tradition, culture and polity of the State concerned, and that the international community should respect the choices made by a country in consideration of its specific circumstances. "There is no universal model whose success can be guaranteed everywhere", he said. Exchange of information was useful, but should be conducted on the basis of non-interference in the internal affairs of others. It was useful to explore possibilities for the strengthening of the United Nations role in public administration, but that did not mean that the general direction of the Organization's activities should be changed or should now focus on a "standard model" for others to imitate.
The reports before the Assembly contained several recommendations, but "on this matter we must proceed with caution", including the restructuring of the institutional arrangements of the United Nations, he said. Past experiences had clearly shown that the setting up of new mechanisms was not the right way to proceed when considering the strengthening of the role of the Organization. "Instead, we should focus our attention on the mechanisms which already exist", so as to enable them to better perform their functions. That should be the starting point for the consideration of related institutional issues.
ACHI ATSAIN, Minister for Labour of Côte d'Ivoire, said that African countries were very much aware of the close link between public administration and development; the general objectives of social and economic development could only be based on rigorous and competent planning, implemented by a competent public administration. Public administration must address the problems of development and must, therefore, be profoundly rooted in the society it was to serve.
He said the Government of Côte d'Ivoire had undertaken a series of reforms, including providing workers with effective training tools, unifying management and salary scales, implementing diverse rationalization and decentralization procedures, increasing human resources, strengthening
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institutional capacities, reforming the pay system, and establishing an ongoing dialogue with the private sector and other social partners.
Any concerted effort towards development, bilateral or multilateral, depended the institutional capacity of States to manage resources rationally, he continued. However, that capacity did not exist everywhere. The international community should provide support in setting up public administration structures which responded to modern management standards. Success in the field of development primarily depended on sound public administration.
MARIS GAILIS, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Environmental Protection and Regional Development of Latvia, said that since the restoration of independence in 1991, his country needed to change its administration from a command system to a democratic one, with balances of power and a service orientation. Latvia's legislative, judicial and executive institutions also needed to be overhauled. The goal of the new Parliament was a modernized public sector able to manage in a changed world. The administrative systems of democratic European States were used as a model for reform.
To that end, the Government had established a Ministry of State Reform, he said. A reform programme for public administration was drafted and a neutral, professional civil service was being created. Increased benefits and mandated training was approved, as well as a retraining programme for the entire civil service. There was a focus on streamlining management within the public service system, and a dialogue had been established with non- governmental organizations. A public information campaign was also launched, to link the Government with the citizen.
Nevertheless, opinions and beliefs in society as a whole, and among civil servants in particular, had been slow to shift, he said. Trust- enhancing activities were necessary to educate politicians, civil servants and the public on basic principles needed for viable administrative structures in a democratic system. Attitudes left over from Soviet administrative practices had contributed to the lack of success in adopting freedom of information and transparency legislation. The orientation towards European integration would help speed up Latvia's transformation. Its association with the European Union gave it access to expert advice and other technical assistance.
FAUSTO CORREIA, Secretary of State for Public Administration of Portugal, said that his Government envisioned development as sustainable, regionally balanced and socially just.
Achieving such a political challenge involved necessarily the redefinition of the role of the State and its public services in society, he noted. The efficiency of public administration was doubly vital, because of its human and organizational capacity and because it was a motor of social and economic development. The model was a democratic public administration with a
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high degree of participation; the goal was the promotion of harmonious development; the means implied a quality and efficient public service, with professional, highly qualified civil servants.
He said several options should be considered by the State in the field of public administration: regionalization, achieved by the creation of administrative regions; reforms of public administration so as to improve participation of citizens; a review of the role of public services; and public action, based on the principle of confidence in the nation's citizens.
Within that perspective, he said four other essential aspects of modern public administration were the collaboration between State and private sector in the privatization process; the reinforcement of citizens' fundamental rights regarding public administration, specifically regarding participation and information; the permanent search for social partners, especially trade unions; and the continued sharing of experiences and cooperation with other countries.
VASYL ROGOVY, First Deputy Minister of the Economy of Ukraine, said his country was being oriented towards a market economy, and public administrative functions were being geared towards development. The current policy was to change development models, eliminate the old system of the central distribution of resources, and to ensure sustainable harmony with the environment. Efforts also aimed at squelching inflation, ensuring a more effective use of resources, enhancing exportation, and converting and diversifying the military industry.
He said his country welcomed international support in the restructuring of its economy. Basic changes were required in Ukraine's credit policy. Legal and regulatory measures were being enacted to create a favourable environment for the joint investment of State and private sector capital. Ongoing reform was planned in the State sector of the economy. A key problem involved the privatization of State enterprises and ensuring their effective functioning. Most important, there must be a change in the psychological climate.
People who had lived under total State control had lost individual initiative and confidence in their individual success, he said. The State did not have enough leaders who could work to change the situation. A programme of training for the State service had been approved. An academy for State administration had been opened. The human factor was where efforts must begin. Ukraine supported the European Union's proposal that questions relating to public administration be considered at one of the next main sessions of the Economic and Social Council.
JASSIM MOHAMMED BUALLAY (Bahrain) said public administration played a central role in promoting socio-economic development. Since independence in 1971, his Government had expanded the work of the departments of the State.
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Public administration efforts involved laying the foundation for laws and rules, while promoting analysis and planning. The role of women in public decision-making could not be stressed enough. Bahrain promoted equality between the sexes, and sought to ensure women's full participation in the activities of the State.
The developed States had an important role to play in helping developing countries to have more effective and qualified public administration structures, he said. Training was crucial to that effort. Developing countries, for their part, should provide a propitious atmosphere to make the best use of international assistance. Public administration should not be a refuge for employment. Neither should be it bloated or oversized.
The United Nations had an important role to play in raising the efficiency of public administration in developing countries, he said. Its contributions could include extending assistance and the benefits of technology to developing countries, while urging its specialized agencies to provide consultative services.
ZOLA SKWEYIYA, Minister for Public Service and Administration of South Africa, said his country welcomed the recommendations made by the Secretary General in his report. South Africa believed that public service, as the executive arm of government, should be one of the instruments for governments to achieve sustainable development. The resumed session of the Assembly was an important forum for the enhancement of a better understanding of public administration in the development process.
In 1994, after its first truly democratic elections, South Africa faced the task of uniting 11 separate geographical entities, he said. By that arrangement, each entity had developed according to its particular needs, without taking national interests into account. Although the rationalization process had not yet been completed fully, the most important actions such as the organizational rationalization had been finalized. Others continued to be pursued so as to achieve full transformation "within the shortest practicable time frame".
Much more, however, needed to be done to transform the ethos of the public service, he continued. The strategic framework for change entailed the following changes: the creation of a leaner and more cost-effective public service, including "rightsizing", adjusting remuneration structures and early retirement; institution-building and management improvement; and affirmative action, by reforming recruitment and outlawing discrimination. Other measures included transforming service delivery by making it more effective; enhancing accountability and transparency; improving employment conditions; promoting a professional service ethos; and human resource development and training.
Chief AYO OGUNLADE, Minister for National Planning of Nigeria, said the primary responsibility for reforming or improving the public sector rested
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with national governments. Consequently, the whole question of public administration and development must be country-specific, and seen in terms of local conditions and history. Nevertheless, in recent years, other factors influencing global development strategies included demands for increased popular participation in governance, increased economic interdependence, and an emphasis on social justice.
In Nigeria, reform efforts had resulted in the establishment of a manageable civil service, with a built-in mechanism for training and capacity- building, he said. There was a desire to create an enabling environment for the private sector, and to see its complementary functioning with the public sector. Nigeria's new national investment policy enabled foreign investors to participate in its economy, in an environment supported by the requisite fiscal and macroeconomic measures.
He stressed that States which were recipients of technical assistance should not be denied the responsibility for determining their own development programmes. Donor countries had an obligation to refrain from imposing their conditionalities and methodologies in developing countries. Both national governments and the international community must find ways to eliminate poverty, promote social justice, protect the environment and promote good governance. In view of the relationship between development and peace, his Government had taken steps to establish home-grown institutions in support of the democratic process, so as to create an enabling environment for people- centred development.
ALBERT H.N. SHABANGU, Minister for Labour and Public Service of Swaziland, said his country had formulated a national development strategy, spearheaded by the Ministry of Economic Planning and Development, which aimed at setting Swaziland's options for development for the coming 20 to 30 years.
The strategy, which took into account many options and proposed a framework of policy measures, was complemented by an internally driven adjustment programme called the Public Sector Management Programme, inaugurated in June 1995. Among the main objectives of the programme were to ensure that public expenditure was properly targeted at national development objectives and to ensure that those objectives were achieved; to streamline the structure of public service; and to significantly increase the productivity and efficiency of public service through institutional strengthening and capacity-building.
There was increasing demand for participation and transparency; "all stakeholders are directly involved", he said. Workers organizations of public service were active participants in deciding the future of Swaziland, as were other employers organizations. Swaziland had also taken action in some of the areas mentioned in the Secretary- General's report, including development of policy, strategic plans and performance improvement indicators. His country supported all efforts to improve public administration.
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RAQUEL HERNANDEZ, First Deputy Minister of Finance and Prices of Cuba, said that her country wished to take part in this resumed session by presenting its own experiences in the area of public administration and development.
She went on to say that the demise of the European socialist bloc and the tightening of the economic blockade imposed by the United States caused, through various factors, a reduction of Cuba's gross domestic product by almost 35 per cent between 1989 and 1993. To face the impact of the crisis, the Cuban Government decided to activate a programme of reforms so as to allow the economy to recover and preserve the achievements in health, social security and social welfare.
The Cuban public administration played a role in the economic recovery of Cuba, as shown in various examples. All in all, the reforms introduced in a period of almost two-and-a-half years had allowed the gradual and orderly introduction of market mechanisms, with social consensus and a planned economy, "with which we have started a process of adaptation to the new circumstances without losing our most essential features", the Minister said.
She said Cuba still had a "long and troublesome" way to go, because the economy took off from very depressed levels and due to the brutal and inhuman blockade imposed by the United States and tightened by the so-called Torricelli Act in 1992 and, more recently, by the Helms/Burton Act -- a new legislative action intended to suffocate the Cuban economy.
Cuba supported any genuine effort by the United Nations to improve its contribution in the field of public administration; however, any attempt to mix up that function with that of transforming the United Nations into a centre for the control and surveillance of national public systems would be counterproductive and void of any legitimacy, she concluded.
ROGER WILSON, Head of the Government and Institutions Department of the Overseas Development Administration of the United Kingdom, said that, in his country, increasing the efficiency and accountability of public services was seen as integral to the process of improving the competitive edge of the economy. Since 1979, his Government had pursued a policy of transferring organizations which no longer needed to be owned by Government to the private sector. Where government needed to be responsible for an activity, did it need to carry out the task itself?
For those jobs which must be carried out by government, the question was whether the relevant body was properly organized for the task, he said. In order to focus government on the job to be done, executive responsibilities had been delegated from government departments and given to smaller management units whose performance could more easily be measured. A tight control had been maintained over costs within government departments, he said. Such efforts had yielded savings of up to 40 per cent in the Overseas Development
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Administration. A further, central strategy had been a determination to put users first.
There was now increasing scrutiny in donor countries of the use which recipient governments made of aid resources, he said. Key issues to be addressed in future included the fact that those having the greatest need also had the least political power. A second issue was the need to give increasing attention to the role of governance in conflict-management. A third issue for the future agenda was how governments could cooperate effectively to address issues of good government. The United Nations, for its part, should set an example of effective administration and efficient use of resources.
UDOL BOONPRAKOB, Secretary-General of the Office of the Civil Service Commission of Thailand, said that, for over 700 years of independent history, Thailand had enjoyed a tradition of strong bureaucracy, "so strong that the country's political system was called a bureaucratic polity". Thai bureaucracy was undeniably a key element for continuing social and economic development in the face of colonial threats, political instability, external power encroachment and public turmoil.
The present globalized world pushed the challenge to public service to its limits, he continued. The modern public service was expected to be more accountable, customer-focused, just, adjustable and efficient as a reliable arm of a democratic government, without inclination to any political party. Yet, constraints remained. The civil service was still a large, cumbersome public machinery. Many agencies were performing unnecessary and redundant tasks. Many rules and regulations were out of date and complicated. Also, as the private sector prospered, the civil service suffered from the loss of its competent mid-level technocrats and professionals, particularly in the fields of science and technology. Senior executive officers worked within the constraints of political interference, rigid budgetary practices and uncompromising regulations.
He said some reform measures had been taken, including the reduction of the size of Thai civil service, training sessions, the use of modern office equipment and information technology, outsourcing to the private sector, incentives, and decentralization. Those above efforts should lead to a proper-sized bureaucracy, public organizations readily adjustable to change, a dependable public service and "an army of knowledgeable, efficient and outward-looking personnel who are responsive to the needs of the society and their customers".
SOEDJADI JATNODIPRODJO, expert at the National Institute of Administration of Indonesia, said the world today was characterized by a drive towards globalization and the liberalization of trade and investment. Other developments included a growing recognition of the need for sustainability, interdependence, regionalization, and the increasing disengagement of the State from national economies.
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During the past decade, there had also been a steady evolution in the concept of development, he said. The need to address the enabling conditions for development in an integrated manner had been recognized. Public administration should continue adapting itself to emerging development trends. It must earn the trust and confidence of the public by responding to its needs and demands. In Indonesia, public administration was seen in terms of the political, economic, social, cultural and spiritual development of the human being. It functioned within a "trilogy of development", encompassing equity, economic growth and stability. Efforts to modernize the civil service sought to link training with career development through structural, functional and technical training, he said. The intention was to establish an innovative public administration, characterized by improved service delivery and an enabling framework for socio-economic activities. Indonesia supported the aim of revitalizing the United Nations function as a clearinghouse for the generation, pooling and dissemination of relevant information. It could also play a catalytic role in promoting South-South cooperation. LAMJAVYN LINGOV, Chairman of the Council for Public Administration of Mongolia, said that his delegation considered that the United Nations had a role in providing technical assistance and support in the area of administrative restructuring and reform. He said that since 1990 Mongolia had been undergoing a transition towards a market economy, a process that was integral and comprehensive in nature and implied, among other changes, the adaptation of the State to its new roles and the creation of polity, legal and institutional frameworks. All of those processes were interrelated. Public administration reform was needed to adapt the State to its new roles, functions, systems and structures and to carry out the overall economic, social and political reforms. He said Mongolia had formulated an integral and comprehensive management development programme in three areas: public service reforms, including public administration and civil service reform and decentralization and the strengthening of local administration; private sector development; and policy and support systems. The specific purpose of the proposed public administration reform, decided upon by the Mongolian Government in 1995 with the participation of national and international experts, was "to adapt government to the requirements of the transition to a market economy and assist the creation of a viable private sector". The five strategic objectives of that reform were, he said, the following: to strengthen the leadership role of the government; strengthen its executive management capacity; strengthen local governance and administration; provide an enabling environment for the private sector; and manage public administration reform impacts and adjustments. Mongolia was also keen to exchange experience with other countries in the area of the formulation of management development programmes as a whole, and public administration in particular.
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