United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in cooperation with the Institute for Development of Freedom of Information (IDFI), with the partnership of the Parliament of Georgia, funded by the European Union (EU) program “Strengthening the System of Parliamentary Democracy in Georgia” is implementing the project “Supporting Parliament of Georgia Involvement in Open Government Partnership”. Within the scopes of the project the first meeting between the Inter-Factional Group and the Open Parliament Georgia Working Group was held on April the 2nd.

MPs and the representatives of the International and Non-governmental organizations were taking part in the meeting. The Inter-Factional Group was created by the Order of the Chairman of the Parliament of Georgia on the 12th of February of 2015. The members of the Inter-Factional Group are MPs: Tinatin Khidasheli, Guguli Maghradze, Malkhaz Vakhtangashvili, Giorgi Kakhiani, Giga Bukia, Nino Goguadze, Khatuna Gogorishvili, Vakhtangi Lemojava, Davit Chavchanidze, Gocha Enukidze and Kakhaber Okriashvili. The aim of the Inter-Factional Group is to draw out the Open Parliament Georgia Action Plan and support the involvement of the Parliament of Georgia in the Open Government Partnership (OGP) Initiative.

The Inter-Factional Group, created by the order of the Chairman of the Parliament of Georgia, is chaired by the Tinatin Khidasheli.

The following Non-governmental and International organizations are invited to participate in the Open Parliament Georgia Working Group: European Union (EU), United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), Institute for Development of Freedom of Information (IDFI), USAID, Transparency International Georgia, Georgian Young Lawyers’ Association, NDI, Open Society Georgia Foundation, Civil Society Institute, GIZ, Eastern Partnership Civil Society Platform, CiDA, JumpStart Georgia, Council of Europe, World Bank and Economic Policy Research Center.

Open Government Partnership (OGP) is a multilateral initiative that aims to secure concrete commitments from governments to promote transparency, empower citizens, fight corruption, and harness new technologies to make government more open, effective and accountable, leading to more efficient use of public resources, innovation and inclusive growth. Georgia is the member of OGP since 2011. In the year of 2014 Georgia became the member of the OGP Steering Committee. Supporting the legislative openness is the new trend in OGP. Legislative Openness Working Group (LOWG) provides peer to peer support and sharing of experience, in response to specific requests from partners.

The main aim of the meeting held on April the 2nd was the arrangement of the functioning of the Inter-Factional Group and the Open Parliament Georgia Working Group and support for organizing the further meetings.

The meeting was headed by the Chair of the Inter-Factional Group Tinatin Khidasheli who highlighted the necessity to further implement the Parliamentary Openness and the growth of the role of Parliament of Georgia in OGP initiative.

On the meeting, Director of the Institute for Development of Freedom of Information, Giorgi Kldiashvili, made a presentation on the involvement of the Parliament of Georgia in the Open Government Partnership (OGP). During his presentation, Giorgi Kldiashvili indicated the issues of the Parliamentary Openness, the highlighted the further plans and discussed the best practices of the Parliamentary Openness. He also pointed out that Non-governmental and International Organizations were ready to support the Parliament of Georgia in development of the Open Parliament Georgia Action Plan.

In the end of the meeting, Tinatin Khidasheli, named the members of the Editorial Group who will be primarily involved in creating the Open Parliament Georgia Action Plan. The representatives of the Non-governmental and International Organizations will be also involved in activities of the Editorial Group. The activities of the Inter-Factional Group, Open Parliament Georgia Working Group and the Editorial Group will be supported by the UNDP and IDFI.

In the nearest future, memorandum will be signed between the Inter-Factional Group and the representatives of the Non-governmental and International Organizations who participate in the project “Supporting Parliament of Georgia Involvement in Open Government Partnership”.