to thank the folks at NPR for their tireless work in support of all the
Reinvention Programs.
All the best to you and your loved ones.
Glynis Long Tom Tate
>
> THE WHITE HOUSE
>
> Office of the Vice President
> _____________________________________________________________For Immediate
> Release Contact:
> Monday, December 21, 1998 (202) 456-7035
>
> VICE PRESIDENT GORE TO CHAIR GLOBAL
> FORUM ON REINVENTING GOVERNMENT
>
> Washington, DC -- Vice President Gore today announced that the
> first-ever global conference on reinventing government -- to include
> high-level representatives from nearly 40 countries -- will be held in
> Washington, DC on January 14-15, 1999 at the U.S. Department of State.
>
> The conference, "Strategies for 21st Century Government: A Global
> Forum on Reinventing Government," will bring together officials who
> understand the vital link between efficient government and a prosperous
> economy and are eager to share ideas and effective practices for making
> government "work better and cost less." Vice President Gore, who leads
> the
> Clinton Administration's reinventing government initiative, will chair the
> event and deliver the conference keynote address.
>
> "One of the strongest economic advantages a country can enjoy in the
> 21st century is a democratic government that is efficient, effective, and
> has the strong support of its people," Vice President Gore said.
>
> "Inefficient, slow-moving, overly-centralized government can be one
> of
> the greatest obstacles to the progress of the private sector -- especially
> in the high-speed, high-tech economy of the 21st century," Vice President
> Gore said. "To promote prosperity in the new economy, nations will have
> to reinvent their economic and regulatory institutions to respond to
> citizens and to markets in a more flexible and efficient manner."
>
> At the start of the Clinton/Gore Administration, President Clinton
> asked Vice President Gore to work with federal employees to make the
> United
> States government work better and cost less. As a result of reinventing
> government initiatives led by the Vice President over the past five years,
> the U.S. government has eliminated 250 outdated government programs,
> slashed more than 16,000 pages of regulations, cut more than 640,000 pages
> of internal rules, helped balance the federal budget for the first time in
> 30 years by saving more than $137 billion, and cut more than 351,000
> employees to create the smallest federal government, on a percentage
> basis,
> since the 1930s.
>
> "We've taken these lessons of reinvention straight from federal
> employees themselves and from their counterparts in the private sector,"
> Vice President Gore said. "In the 1970s, when U.S. industry faced lower
> profits and shrinking market share, business leaders stepped forward to
> reinvent the culture of their corporations. They rediscovered the
> customer, and began giving their employees the training, trust, and
> authority they needed to serve the customer."
>
> "These principles are working now in the U.S. government," Gore said.
> "But we know that reinvention requires a sustained 8 to 12 year effort
> before it really takes hold. That?s why we are eager to deepen our
> commitment to reinvention -- and advance the efforts of our neighbors --
> by
> sharing ideas and effective practices with governments across the world."
>
> Vice President Gore will open the conference, deliver the keynote
> address, and then chair the first-day plenary session, examining the
> factors that have forced countries worldwide to confront the challenge of
> government efficiency and reform. Following a luncheon discussion at the
> Inter-American Development Bank, participants will meet in workshops to
> discuss a variety of subjects, including service to the citizen,
> government regulation and transparency, and measuring government
> performance. The second-day opening plenary will address strategies for
> improving service to the citizen and then lead into six workshops, each
> featuring a separate government innovation pioneered by federal, state,
> and
> local governments from the U.S. as well as from different governments
> around the world. After a luncheon address at the World Bank, the
> conference will reconvene in plenary session to explore the use of
> information technologies to transform government. The conference will
> conclude with remarks by Vice President Gore.
>
> "Strategies for 21st Century Government: A Global Forum on
> Reinventing Government" is sponsored by the Innovations in American
> Government program at Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of
> Government, the Inter-American Development Bank, the World Bank, the
> National Partnership for Reinventing Government in the Office of the Vice
> President of the United States, the Brookings Institution, the U.S. Office
> of Management and Budget, the Organization for Economic Co-operation and
> Development, and the United States Information Agency.
>
> The Global Forum on Reinventing Government will be followed six weeks
> later by another international conference hosted by Vice President Gore:
> "The Vice President's Conference on Fighting Corruption and Safeguarding
> Integrity Among Justice and Security Officials." This conference, to be
> held in Washington, DC from February 24-26, 1999 at the U.S. Department of
> State, will bring together representatives of more than 60 countries to
> organize a new global effort to fight corruption among key justice,
> security and budget officials.
>
> The two conferences share an underlying conviction: governments
> that
> gain and maintain the public trust will lead the world in promoting
> prosperity in the global economy of the 21st century.
>
> "Honest, efficient governance is absolutely essential if governments
> are to build on the public trust that makes democracy possible," Vice
> President Gore said. "Ensuring the integrity and efficiency of government
> will strengthen our democracies and help us accelerate, instead of
> suffocate, the entrepreneurial initiative that is the surest path to
> progress and prosperity in the 21st century."
>
> # # #
>
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