Estonia joined the OGP in 2011, with the benefits of membership including the opportunity to share best practices on e-governance solutions and civil society engagement with partners worldwide.

The government office says that Estonia has developed six national OGP Action Plans since 2011, with some of its most significant open governance achievements being the development of a digital platform called "rahvaalgatus" (Citizens' Initiative), the My Local Government dashboard, and the lobby registry.

The 8th OGP summit this week attracted over 2,000 people from around 130 countries – many of them combining the visit with the Tallinn Digital Summit which took place earlier in the week – including heads of state and government, civil society organizations, and policy-makers.

The summit focused on how cutting-edge digital governance, combined with the open government values of transparency, accountability, and participation, can renew democracy and fight back against autocratic threats.

The OGP is a multilateral initiative which unites 76 countries, 104 local governments and thousands of civil society organizations, the government office reports.

The Government of Estonia assumed the role of government chair of the OGP Steering Committee last year, and were joined by civil society co-chair Anabel Cruz, Founder and Director of the Communications and Development Institute in Uruguay.

This week's OGP Global Summit concluded these chairing terms, and Cruz and the Estonian Government will be succeeded on October 1 by the Government of Kenya, along with Blair Glencorse, Co-CEO of the Accountability Lab, for a one-year term.

Anabel Cruz said: "I am pleased to have led the partnership along with the Government of Estonia at a crucial time for democracies everywhere, and I look forward to the steering committee's new leadership."

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