HAVANA DECLARATION. Second Iberoamerican Conference of Ministers of Public Administration and State Reform. (Havana, Cuba, June 1999)

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1 I REPUBLIC OF CUBA MINVEC Ninth Iberoamerican Summit Conefrence Havana - Cuba, 1999 LATIN AMERICAN CENTER OF ADMINISTRATION FOR DEVELOPMENT Second Iberoamerican Conference of Ministers of Public Administration and State Reform HAVANA DECLARATION (Havana, Cuba, June 1999) The Ministers of Public Administration and State Reform and the Heads of Delegation of the Iberoamerican countries, meeting at the initiative of the Ministry for Foreign Investment and Economic Cooperation of Cuba and the Latin American Centre of Administration for Development (CLAD), in Havana, Cuba, on June 1999, - Have instituted the Second Iberoamerican Conference of Ministers of Public Administration and State Reform, in order to discuss and submit guidelines and lines of cooperation in the field of "New Technologies, Efficiency, Transparency and Citizen Control of the State, The Reconfiguration of the State in the Global Economy: New Roles, New Challenges and Consideration of Conference Initiatives to Promote Iberoamerican Projects, - Have followed up the concerns expressed in the spheres of Public Administration and State Reform in the successive presidential summit conferences at Bariloche, Viña del Mar and Margarita Island, and more recently, in Oporto, Portugal, which endorsed in full the Lisbon Declaration, adopted on the occasion of the First Iberoamerican Conference of Ministers of the Public Administration and State Reform, held in Sintra, Portugal, on July 1998, - Have arrived at a consensus on the principles stated below, and agreed that the same should be submitted to the next Summit Conference of Heads of State and Government, to be held in Havana, in November of this year. 1

2 NEW TECHNOLOGIES, EFFICIENCY, TRANSPARENCY AND CITIZEN CONTROL OF THE STATE 1. Despite the diversity of styles and degrees of development among the countries, there is a consensus that the building of the State in the Twenty-first Century shall be closely tied to the capacity to cope with technological challenge. In this new phase, a key problem will be to progress from state reform to state modernisation, the latter being understood as the design and implementation of a political, technological, organisational and management architecture of the State, aimed at the citizen, with full use of information technologies at local, national and supranational levels. If information science is to truly serve society, it must serve to increase effectiveness and efficiency in the rendering of public services, and to achieve transparency in public management accountability, thus leading to greater citizen control of the State. 2. Transparent management implies the obligation to make available to society, for its perusal, any and all information relating to acts of authority and resource management, as well as data relating to the behaviour, performance and criteria followed by civil servants in decision-making. 3. Moreover, steps carried out online and the use of Internet by citizens to learn the standards of the services rendered by the various public agencies are specific means for increasing efficiency and effectiveness in public services and, ultimately, in the quality of life of citizens. In this latter case, it would be desirable to achieve self-rendered services, inter alia social services, by making use of information science resources. In any case, it should be assumed that, as such, information is one of the most important benefits that public administration is able to provide to its citizens. A basic condition, however, is that access to administrative documents be guaranteed by law, and due publicity made of policies and programmes implemented by the State, and their results. 4. Modernisation of constitutional and administrative law and training of civil servants regarding electronic documents and signatures, among other technologies, rank high among the challenges brought on by the new technologies. In the future, access to information technologies and communications, as well as the capacity to use their applications, will be critical factors for entering the job market. For this reason, it is the responsibility of the State to develop policies that will offer these technologies to citizens from basic educational levels to higher learning. In this regard, development of managerial and civil servant capacities will be of particular importance, with a view to their professionalisation and continuing education. In respect of legal adjustments, it will be necessary to further the consolidation of positive information law, as has already been achieved in some countries. 2

3 5. Although it is undeniable that the new technologies may contribute to strengthening the citizenry and enhancing social dialog with the public administrations, it is also conceivable that they may reinforce social asymmetries and become a new source of evil. Consequently, it will lie with the State to take the necessary precautions to prevent access to the new technologies and to their inherent benefits from becoming conditioned by the economic capacity of the citizens, inasmuch as it is duty-bound to increase the public interest by making greater use of such resources. 6. It will also lie with the State to take all the necessary precautions including legal ones to preserve the privacy of citizens and institutional security. Particularly, a citizen s right to keep his personal data private will become more relevant as databases are in the hands not only of public administrations, but of enterprises outside the State. With reasonable exceptions, it will also be essential to ensure the right of each inhabitant to know the information available regarding himself and the right to request correction of erroneous data. 7. Likewise, it should be borne in mind that our countries are subject not only to various deficiencies that hinder their full entry into the information society, but also to barriers that even limit making full and comprehensive use of the technologies currently available. In this regard, the cost of communications and the lack of a user culture are obvious barriers. In addition to the low education and health levels of significant sectors of the Latin American population, the above should be actively dealt with by the State in order to overcome the existing backwardness in our societies and the situations of info-exclusion observed within them. 8. In view of the fact that the high cost of acquisition and transfer of technology is a limiting factor in most countries in the region, it is essential to explore effective mechanisms to resolve this. It is also advisable to seek to develop an information system on accumulated experiences in these fields, which could be incorporated into existing CLAD databases. RECONFIGURATION OF THE STATE IN THE GLOBAL ECONOMY: NEW ROLES, NEW CHALLENGES 1. At present, the State is at the centre of controversial political and economic debates regarding the challenges posed by the phenomenon of globalisation. This phenomenon is the result of increasing inter-dependence among the members of the international community, not only in the economic but also in the political, cultural, technological and social spheres, to mention the most important. However, its impact is particularly significant in the economic sphere. In fact, globalisation has become a conditioning factor in the process of economic development in the countries, duplicating the contradictions and dualities of traditional economic societies expressed in the increased gap between rich and poor countries, industrialised and non-industrialised countries, and in the deepening of internal inequalities in national societies. 3

4 2. In general terms, globalisation offers notable opportunities for internal economic growth; by the same token, however, it generates a high degree of economic and social uncertainty and instability, which the State should be prepared to manage. Indeed, globalisation is everincreasingly affecting the very nature of the State and its position vis-à-vis the global context. In consequence, it is undergoing a process of limitation of its sovereign powers, which now must be shared with other States and agents over which it exercises little control. 3. In view of the questions described above, it is clear that the State must transform and reconfigure itself, such that it may successfully deal with the constant challenges and opportunities of the international context, while taking utmost advantage of the benefits to be derived from globalisation and protecting itself from adverse effects. 4. This reform process may be of a multiple and varied nature, depending on the ideological and political perspective. In fact, there can be a wide range of responses, from a State characterised by its limited governmental structure, to a concept of managerial State that stresses administrative efficiency, or the so called its "third way", a trend that has recently been gaining ground and which proposes rendering compatible the forces of the State and the market so that they may work in synergy and in a complementary fashion. 5. Whatever the approach to these issues and with the caveat that the situation of the countries in the region is very diverse and their respective idiosincracies quite singular, it seems obvious that to successfully deal with the difficulties of globalisation, the State must assume the roles derived from the new context. Among the more significant of these, the following deserve mention: - To establish a stable regulatory context that will provide legal security for carrying out economic activities and investments, - To ensure investment in basic social services and infrastructure, - To ascribe priority to protection of the more vulnerable groups, - To promote protection of the environment, - To enhance the regulatory capacity of the State for conciliation of opposed interests and protecting the common welfare, - To take on an active and dynamic role in order to fully and efficiently assume its responsibility in respect of social development and equity, institutional development, sustainable development and scientific and technological development. 6. The assumption of all these roles will require a state structure with improved management capacities, based on a new institutional design, particularly in regard to its strategic policy-making core, regulatory and executive agencies and non-statal public organisations. Likewise, a professional and highly-qualified civil service will be essential; this will require significant investments in specialised training programmes. 7. Such a State will, moreover, require intensive use of information technology to increase its productivity and improve the quality of the services rendered to citizens. 8. It should be noted that given the dynamics of the global context, States may no longer achieve their own objectives of economic growth and social development in isolation; they must apply integration strategies, which in the Iberoamerican case are facilitated by common historical and 4

5 cultural characteristics. Regional integration that preserves the individuality of States is one of the most effective ways that the State may respond to the challenges of globalisation. CONSIDERATION OF CONFERENCE INITIATIVES FOR PROMOTING IBERIAN-AMERICAN PROJECTS The Second Ministerial Conference had the opportunity to learn of and evaluate several initiatives, in relation to which it proposes the following: 1. To support the organisation of a space for electronic exchange among civil servants concerned with the problems of state management and performance of public organisations, in order to activate a process of exchange of knowledge, successful experiences and innovative ideas. 2. To suggest the establishment of an Iberoamerican Programme of Interactive Distance Training of Civil Servants, using the available institutional and technological capacities, furthering their development and fostering cooperation and exchange of learning programmes. Included in this line of work is the founding of a Masters Programme in Information Science for Public Administration. 3. To create an Iberoamerican Quality Award in the field of Public Administration. 4. To urge the establishment of ethical guidelines for public action applicable to civil servants and to support strong initiatives leading to an Iberoamerican strategy for cooperation in the fight against corruption. In this context, support is expressed for the carrying out of an Iberoamerican Workshop on Efficiency and Integrity in Government as a Strategy for Fighting Corruption. 5. To entrust the General Secretariat of CLAD with preparing the agreed projects, in cooperation with the proposing countries and in coordination with the person responsible for Iberoamerican cooperation in Cuba, as Pro Tem Secretariat of the Ninth Summit Conference, and to entrust the promoting delegations and the persons responsible for Iberoamerican cooperation in their respective countries with providing the necessary support to render viable these initiatives. RESOLUTIONS The Ministers of Public Administration and State Reform and the Heads of Delegation of the Iberoamerican countries, meeting in Havana, Cuba, on June 1999, on the occasion of the Second Iberoamerican Conference on Public Administration and State Reform, hereby decide to adopt the following resolutions: 1. To express recognition to the Government of Cuba for its support to and excellent organisation of the Conference, its proverbial hospitality and its contributions to the climate of Iberoamerican brotherhood that has characterised this Conference. 5

6 2. To continue to carry out periodical meetings of ministers of public administration and state reform, prior to Iberoamerican Summit Conferences of Heads of State and Government, with a view to contributing to decision-making and proposal of recommendations in line with common needs of the public administrations in the region. 3. To accept the invitation of the Government of Panama to host the Third Iberoamerican Conference of Ministers of Public Administration and State Reform. 4. To instruct the General Secretariat of CLAD to carry out the necessary coordination with the Government of Panama in order to organise and carry out the Third Ministerial Conference. 5. To express recognition of the initiative of the United Nations General Assembly in approving the financing of an "Electronic Network of Regional Institutions to Support Training in the Field of Administration and Finance", which will support the action of CLAD in disseminating activities to promote public administration modernisation in Latin America. 6. To request that the Pro Tem Secretariat of the Iberoamerican Summit Conference, through appropriate channels, submit the contents of this Havana Declaration to the consideration of the Heads of State and Government. Argentina Luis Santos Casale Bolivia Franz Aguirre Brazil Paulo Daniel Barreto Lima Colombia Miguel María Arias Sanabria Costa Rica Odette Fonseca León Cuba Ibrahim Ferradaz García Ecuador Ramón Yulee Ch. Spain Jaime Rodríguez-Arana Guatemala Willi Kaltschmitt Luján 6

7 Honduras D. Gustavo Adolfo Alfaro Zelaya Mexico Arsenio Farell Cubillas Nicaragua José Barrios Vanegas Panama Norberta Tejada Cano Paraguay Dalmasio Salinas R. Peru Juan Castilla Meza Portugal Fausto Correia Dominican Republic Pablo del Rosario Uruguay Rubén Correa Freitas Venezuela Miguel G. Van der Dijs 7