"Serving Citizens Means Empowering Citizens", July 7, 2018 

Open and free societies are under threat. There are less and less communities that empower people to engage politically, prosper economically and thrive socially and lack of accountable leadership, commitment to civic space and strong public services needed to build and maintain them ... [G]overnments, reformers, foundations, NGOs, academics and more... gathered in Tbilisi for the fifth annual Open Government Partnership (OGP) Summit ... to rally around solutions that serve citizens through empowering them-to both exercise civic freedoms and demand strong public services. A world that restricts the rights and freedoms of people is a world that restricts business success and growth ... To encourage governments to recognize civic space and freedoms, we need companies to take a stand to protect and promote the rights of citizens. At a session...  participants recognized the imperative of cross-sector collaboration to promote and refine the best tools and methods to protect civic space...  For many countries, optimizing public service delivery represents an unparalleled business opportunity ... Companies have much to gain, and little to lose, when seizing these opportunities. Those that do are both growing their businesses and improving the lives of millions.