Sir Tim Berners-Lee, inventor of the World Wide Web, has joined the Cabinet Office in welcoming eight new countries to the Open Government Partnership (OGP).
The OGP was launched in September 2011 by the UK and seven other founding countries with the aim of encouraging governments to promote data transparency, reduce corruption and harness the power of new technologies to strengthen governance.
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The UK, along with Indonesia, is currently serving as co-chair of the OGP, which now has a membership of 58 countries, which between them count for a third of the world's population.
The latest countries to sign up to the principles of OGP are Argentina, Costa Rica, Finland, Hungary, Panama, Trinidad and Tobago, Ghana and Liberia. The new nations received a formal welcome at a meeting in London.
Berners-Lee welcomed the eight new countries and insisted OGP must be sure to cater for differences in culture across the globe.
"Open data, accessed via a free and open web, has the potential to create a better world. However, best practice in London or New York is not best practice in Lima or Nairobi," he said.
"The World Wide Web Foundation's research will help to ensure that open data initiatives in the developing world will unlock real improvements in citizens' day-to-day lives. It was at the OGP plenary in Brasilia last April that the ODDC project was born."
The World Wide Web Foundation is a non-profit organisation that aims to achieve a world where everyone can freely use the web to communicate, collaborate and innovate.
"It is fitting that, just 12 months on, we are here in London to launch our initiative at another milestone OGP event," Berners-Lee added.
Cabinet Office minister Francis Maude welcomed the new members to "an international force for change", which he urged more countries to join.
"In just 18 months, the OGP has grown into a global movement of 58 countries. Now we must cement the credibility of the OGP as an international force for change by deepening engagement with existing participants and turning promises into actions," he said.
"Transparency is a tool for reformers all over the world. The best way to make the OGP transparency message stick, and encourage more countries to join, is to show how openness empowers citizens and improves their lives; and to make ourselves accountable if we fail to live up to our promises.
"Once people see the advantages of transparency, the democratic impetus for open government will be irresistible, and there will be no turning back," Maude added.
Open Standards Principles for IT became compulsory across UK government towards the end of last year. The principles are designed to make government IT more open, cheaper and better connected.
