Transparency of Stari Grad Municipality to be presented at the Council of Europe Forum of Cities and Regions in Ukraine

SARAJEVO, (Patria) - The Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe has recognized Stari Grad Municipality and its Mayor, Ibrahim Hadžibajrić, as a leader in the region in business transparency and the fight against corruption in public service. This was confirmed by Drago Kos, Chairman of the OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) Working Group on Bribery in International Business Transactions.

On this occasion, the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe sent an invitation to the Mayor, Ibrahim Hadžibajrić, to participate in the Forum of Cities and Regions to be held on June 19 in Odesa (Ukraine), where he will present the work of this local community. High-ranking officials from all over Europe, as well as the rest of the world, will attend the conference.

“Through Mr. Drago Kos, the way Stari Grad Municipality operates, which is transparent in all segments, was presented to the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe. We have received confirmation of this on several occasions. Last year, our municipality was declared the most transparent local self-government unit in Bosnia and Herzegovina, where we were overwhelmingly the best out of 36 municipalities and cities. In previous years, Transparency International also researched our work, and we were ranked above the average of other municipalities,” said Hadžibajrić.

He emphasized that transparent work is what he has insisted on since he came to Stari Grad Municipality, and that the results are evident and will be presented to the participants of the Forum in Odesa.
In 2012, as part of the project "Monitoring and Advocacy for Good Governance in BiH Municipalities," Transparency International ranked Stari Grad Municipality 41st
in terms of transparency of local self-government units in Bosnia and Herzegovina. At that time, the work of the Municipal Council was assessed as 103rd in terms of transparency, and the work of the local administration and
the mayor was ranked 9th, out of a total of 140 local self-government units.

Only three years later, Stari Grad Municipality received a much better assessment of its integrity system, based on research conducted by Transparency International BiH, with the conclusion that there is a good basis for even better development and improvement. Stari Grad was then assessed as above the average of the remaining nine municipalities in the research.
Last year, an analysis of the level of transparency, openness, and accountability of local self-government units in Bosnia and Herzegovina was conducted by the NGO “Why not” in cooperation with the regional network “ActionSEE”. The analysis showed that Stari Grad Municipality Sarajevo is the most transparent local self-government unit in the examination of administrative openness, in terms of
interaction with citizens and in terms of freedom of access to information. In the examination of the most important principle of transparency, Stari Grad Municipality had 75% of indicators met.