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The first meeting of the GfD Initiative’s Regional Working Group I on Civil Service and Integrity took place in Rabat, Morocco, on 18-19 July 2005 and was hosted by the Moroccan State Minister for Economic and General Affairs, Mr. Rachid Talbi El Alami.
Participants
High-level participants attended from Morocco, Tunisia, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Bahrain, Qatar and Syria, as well as OECD delegates from Spain, Turkey, Belgium, France, Netherlands, Poland and the United Kingdom. In addition the project partner UNDP was represented at the meeting as well as the World Bank, the European Union and the Arab Administrative Development Organisation (ARADO).
The meeting was opened by Minister Rachid Talbi El Alami, State Minister for Economic and General Affairs, Morocco and Minister Mohamed Boussaid, Minister in Charge of Public Sector Modernisation, Morocco as well as Ambassador Fernando Ballestero of the Permanent Delegation of Spain to the OECD. They gave a strong commitment to the implementation of the Initiative and explored key challenges to the reform agenda. Mr. Rolf Alter, OECD, gave an overview on the strategic context of the Initiative and set out key task in order to reach planned deliverables during the coming 12 month of the Initiative’s schedule.
Outcomes
The participating countries have:
1.Identified four specific focus areas for the policy dialogue of the Working Group and designated committed Arab countries as thematic leaders of these focus areas:
| Focus Area |
Thematic Leaders |
| Integrity and prevention of corruption: tools, measures, instruments |
Morocco and Jordan |
| HRM Reform and reduction in wage bill costs |
Bahrain and Morocco |
| Fiscally affordable pay reform which creates incentives for performance |
Jordan |
| Simplification of administrative procedures and customer responsiveness |
Tunisia |
These Thematic Leaders will report back at the next meeting on the political and administrative risks and opportunities of using their respective focus Area as a point of entry to reform.
2. Agreed to implement the stocktaking of current reform initiatives on the basis of a focussed questionnaire and possibly supported by country missions.
3. Agreed to hold the second meeting of Regional Working Group 1 before the end of 2005 in Morocco;
4. Agreed to explore opportunities of additional ad-hoc seminars in the framework of the focus areas in the participating countries;
5. Agreed to call for the involvement of more Arab countries in Regional Working Group 1;
6. Agreed to continue the close co-operation with EU, the WB and ARADO, in particular with regard to the TA assistance projects of those organisations.
Documentation
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