Minister Eyzaguirre at OECD Meeting: “We must invite the people to share their opinions and include them in long-term public policies.”
The day began with a bilateral meeting with OECD Secretary General Angel Gurría to address the scope of the 14 programs that the organization is currently promoting in coordination with the Chilean government. These have led to the drafting of various reports which will be released soon.
Gurría and Eyzaguirre fine-tuned the agenda for the OECD delegation’s visit to Santiago in November, which will be led by the Secretary General. He will present the latest recommendations of the Economic and Development Review Committee (EDRC) for developing countries to strengthen their skills in order to increase productivity.
Following the meeting, the minister participated in the inaugural plenary session in which representatives of the world’s 33 main economies discussed the need to reconcile economic growth, productive development, and social inclusion at all levels in order to eliminate the inequality that affects countries to varying degrees.
A consensus was generated regarding the role that the public sector should play in the area of the effectiveness of public policies. Special attention was paid to the way in which governments can increase efforts to confront or decrease inequality, offer better public services, and optimize the effectiveness of public institutions.
In that context, Secretary General Gurría provided information about the organization’s most recent report regarding the strengths and weaknesses of regulation and legislative work in advanced economies. The report states that better regulation stimulates growth and increases social wellbeing while weak regulation can trigger crises of varying magnitudes.
More and Better Citizen Participation
Minister Eyzaguirre gave a number of speeches, included one in the VOICE ministerial lab, where models of citizen participation in the design and application of public policies were discussed as part of efforts to achieve more inclusive economic development.
He explained that, “We are at the intersection of two phenomena, one structural and one cyclical. The structural phenomenon reveals that it is possible for citizens to make their voices heard through a greater number of media channels, which is evidence of a much healthier democracy.”
“Institutions like the media have a duty to share more diverse opinions of society,” he added.
In order to explain this phenomenon, the minister stated that, “There is also a cyclical problem: during adjustment processes following an economic crisis, the measures that governments must adopt unfortunately, and most likely unavoidably, affect disadvantaged sectors more than wealthier ones.”
This could explain “why the loss of legitimacy of our institutions and the people’s loss of faith in their leadership are reaching their highest levels.” He added, “We have to ask ourselves how citizen participation can allow us to collect opinions and include them in long-term public policies as well as measures that address the short- and medium- terms in order to rebuild trust.”
Probity, Transparency, and a New Constitution for Chile
During his visit, the minister took the opportunity to explain to his audience that “Chile is currently in the process of generating effective channels for citizen participation in order to change its Constitution. This is a major effort that the government is carrying out.”
He noted that this type of progress “requires the proper channels of participation,” that is, “political parties, the media, and unions must make changes in order to ensure that there are higher levels of transparency, probity, and accountability.”
Minister Eyzaguirre also used some of his time to talk about President Bachelet’s commitment to making “strong” progress on a Transparency Agenda which, among other things, “changes the way in which political activity is financed, including public funds.”
Tomorrow (Thursday) the minister is scheduled to travel to Paris to meet with Janos Bertok, the Chief of the Integrity in the Public Sector Division of the OECD, and Claudia Serrano, the Ambassador of Chile to the OECD.
Minister Eyzaguirre will make a formal request for the international agency to assess the Agenda on Probity and Anti-Corruption that the Government of Chile is promoting.