Finland Times

 

The Public Governance Ministerial Meeting of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) will be held at the Finlandia Hall in Helsinki on 28 October.

 

Finland will host and chair the meeting titled ‘Public Governance for Inclusive Growth – towards a new vision for the Public Sector,’ according to a press release of the Ministry of Finance issued on Monday.

 

The ministerial meeting will be attended by 31 ministers, over 50 delegations and nearly 200 participants with Minister for Local Government and Public Reforms Anu Vehviläinen in the chair.

The languages of the meeting will be English and French.

 

The vice-chairs of the meeting are ministers from Germany, Japan and the United States. Secretary General Angel Gurria and Deputy Secretary General Mari Kiviniemi from the OECD will both be attending.

 

The Finnish delegation to the meeting consists of representatives of several ministries.  

 

Finance Minister Alexander Stubb will be speaking at the dinner and State Secretary Olli-Pekka Heinonen from the Ministry of Finance will be chairing one of the ministerial labs.

 

“The themes of our 'labs' follow the policy cycle - how decisions translate into desired change and greater impact in society. The 'labs' provide for ministers a new, innovative way to discuss with each other,” said Financial Counsellor Katju Holkeri from the Ministry of Finance on the eve of the meeting.

 

The meeting will discuss the role and importance of public governance and the public sector in increasing productivity.

 

Citizen participation, digitalisation, productivity, open governance and management are themes important to Finland, said the release.

 

The outcome of the meeting will be a common vision for the public sector.

 

The ministerial meeting will also see the launching of the new OECD flagship publication titled ‘Regulatory Policy Outlook’.  

 

The ministers will work together in four concurrent sessions, or 'labs': Voice, Design, Delivery and Accountability.

 

During these sessions, the ministers will explore what kind of administrative structures, models and management systems provide good tools for problem solving across sectors.

 

An international Youth Forum will be organised on the occasion of the ministerial meeting on 27 October.

 

The youth will gather together at the Youth Dialogue at the House of the Estates. The young people aged 15–25 years representing different nationalities will discuss with ministers from six countries and bring young people's voice to the ministerial meeting.

 

The delegations of young people, with around thirty members in them in total, represent Finland, Canada, the Czech Republic, Germany, Tunisia, Mexico, Morocco, Ireland and Turkey.

 

The Finnish delegation consists of young people from Kuopio, eastern Lapland and the capital region.