Busan Declaration of Digital-5 Governments

The Ministry of the Interior of the Republic of Korea, the Cabinet Office of Her Majesty’s Government, the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Communications of the Republic of Estonia, the Department of Internal Affairs of the Government of New Zealand and the Prime Minister’s Office of the Government of the State of Israel (hereinafter referred to as “the Participants”), collectively, declare to:  

Future of the D5

  1. Reaffirm our commitment, as a group of most digitally advanced governments in the world, to share best practices and innovative digital government policies, identify methods to improve the Participants’ digital services, collaborate on common projects and to support and champion our growing digital economies;
  2. Reaffirm our objective to contribute to the international community through working towards the 9 principles of the D5 Charter and bridging the digital gaps among countries;
  3. Commit to strengthening cooperation and developing effective communication channels among the Participants;  

Expansion of the D5  

  1. Recognise that the D5 should be open to expansion to include additional countries that have a track record of excellence in digital government and are committed to meet the D5 principles to advance global digital government;
  2. Agree that new members to the group must be proposed by one current member, seconded by another and that, as set out in the Charter (8.2), all members must agree to admit them;
    • 5-1 The country will be asked to submit a brief expression of interest to the steering group setting out:
      • How they are working towards the 9 principles in the D5 Charter; and 
      • Their track record of excellence in digital government.

D5 and Related Stakeholders 

  1. Acknowledge that, to lead global digital government, the D5 should work with relevant stakeholders, including international organizations, the private sector, academia, and civil society;
  2. Commit to sharing and learning with these stakeholders to advance global digital government;

9 Principles of the D5 Charter

  1. Recommit to working towards the 9 principles of the Charter set in 2014;
  2. Recognise that the principles of the Charter should be reviewed annually as digital government evolves and update as new challenges and opportunities arise to ensure they remain relevant;

Outcomes of the D5

  1.  Agree to share code and solutions in the field of digital government, and collaborate on research, analysis and projects; and
  2.  Agree to publish our findings annually to share with non-D5 members and to ensure that we lead global digital government.

Signed in Busan, Republic of Korea, on November 11th, 2016.

For the Ministry of the Interior of the Republic of Korea

For the Cabinet Office of Her Majesty’s Government of the United Kingdom

For the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Communications of the Republic of Estonia

For the Department of Internal Affairs of the Government of New Zealand

For the Prime Minister’s Office of the Government of the State of Israel

[Annex]  The 9 Principles of the D5 Charter

The Participants have decided to commit to working towards the following principles of digital development, acknowledging that they will not be able to meet all of the criteria on joining:

  1. User needs - the design of public services for the citizen
  2. Open standards - technology requires interoperability and so a clear commitment to a credible royalty free open standards policy in needed
  3. Open source - future Government systems, tradecraft, manuals and standards are created as open source and are shareable between members
  4. Open markets - in government procurement create true completion for companies regardless of size. Encourage and support a start-up culture and promote economic growth through open markets
  5. Open government (transparency) - be a member of the Open Government Partnership and use open licenses to produce and consume open data
  6. Connectivity - enable an online population through comprehensive and high quality digital infrastructure
  7. Teach children to code - commitment to offer children the opportunity to learn to code and build the next generation of skills
  8. Assisted digital - a commitment to support all its citizens to access digital services
  9. Commitment to share and learn - all members commit to work together to help solve each other’s issues wherever they can

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