Supporting democratic resilience in the Americas: challenges and best practices

The Delegation of the Dominican Republic wishes to express its thanks for the convening of this special meeting of the Permanent Council to consider the topic “Supporting Democratic Resilience in the Americas: Challenges and Best Practices.” Our Government believes that the challenges of democratic governance in the Americas will always be a matter of the first order, above all at a time when COVID-19 occupies most of our countries' agendas. We are also grateful for the presentations by the distinguished speakers, of which our Delegation has taken due note.

Mr. Chair, the Dominican Republic believes that digital government, open government and public procurement are important issues that bear directly on the subject that brings us together. The Dominican Government, in the terms of President Danilo Medina, gives priority to transparency, openness, accountability and responsiveness to citizens. That is why the Dominican Delegation works with determination and commitment alongside the Department for Effective Public Management in promoting and developing these issues in the Organization and in the Hemisphere.

Over the past twenty years, transparency in the Dominican Republic has grown considerably, and a culture of openness of the administration toward the citizen has been fostered, guided by the principles of transparency, collaboration and participation: in other words, what we today call open government. The Dominican Republic is working toward the transformation of public administration, and one initiative of far-reaching importance for responsiveness to citizens is the launch of República Digital. This government initiative seeks to guarantee citizens' access to information and communication technology, with the aim of narrowing the digital divide and providing better services to the public.

República Digital rests on four main pillars and two cross-cutting ones, and one of those main pillars is Open and Transparent Digital Government. One fact that marks the Dominican commitment to this issue is that our country, through the Presidential Office for Information and Communication Technologies, chaired the Inter-American Network on Digital Government in 2019. During its chairmanship, our country promoted the resolution on Open and Transparent Digital Government and the adoption of the Inter-American Open Data Program to Prevent and Combat Corruption. The Dominican Republic also hosted the eleventh Annual Meeting of the Inter-American Network on Digital Government in 2018.

In addition, the country hosted the Annual Meeting of the Inter-American Network on Government Procurement in 2019, through the Directorate General of Public Procurement of the Dominican Republic. The initiatives I have mentioned take on importance at difficult times such as the present, when a national and hemispheric emergency demands that government be able to respond rapidly to its citizens. The Dominican Republic also believes that the effective protection of people's rights and respect for their dignity are fundamental elements of any truly democratic system.

In the midst of a crisis of this magnitude, our Government is working carefully to continue fostering and strengthening its democratic practices, ensuring the protection of every one of its inhabitants and taking care that such protection is always carried out with respect for human rights, paying special attention to the right to information and the right to expression.

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.