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23 June 2016

Recent changes in the US Freedom of Information Act

The US Freedom of Information Act is a federal law that sets the standards for disclosure of documents and information held by public institutions. It defines the concept of public information and regulates the exceptions for the disclosure of information. This article by IDFI examines the latest amendments to the Freedom of Information Act that significantly improve the access to public information.

16 June 2016

Georgia at the London Anti-Corruption Summit

The article reviews the World’s First Anticorruption Summit held in London on May 12. From Georgia, the Summit was attended by Prime Minister Giorgi Kvirikashvili and Minister of Justice Tea Tsulukiani.

15 June 2016

Visa Liberalization for Georgia and Reasons for Its Delay

IDFI issues an articles on visa liberalization. The article reviews procedures of visa liberalization process between Georgia and EU as well as the reasons of possible delay of finalizing this process.

27 May 2016

IDFI - GPSA Global Partners Forum

2016 Global Partners Forum held on May 19-24 (in Washington) covered almost 75 countries, as there were representatives from different local or international NGOs, governments, private sector or academics. Institute for Development of Freedom of Information (IDFI) was presented in the framework of Open Government Partnership by Saba Buadze. Buadze delivered his remarks and shared the experience of IDFI on the process of co-creation in the Open Government Partnership.

25 May 2016

The Parliament and Civil Society Discuss MP Code of Ethics

On May 20-21, the Georgian Parliament’s Permanent Council on Open and Transparent Governance and its Civil Society Consultative Group held a meeting discussing the MP Code of Ethics. Improving the Code of Ethics is one of the commitments (4.4.) in the Open Parliament Georgia 2015-2016 Action Plan.

24 May 2016

Changes of the Parliamentary Rules of Procedure

After 4 months of work the Georgian Parliament’s Permanent Council on Open and Transparent Governance and its Consultative Group finished developing draft amendments to the Parliamentary Rules of Procedure. The draft law was developed based on the Open Parliament Georgia Action Plan for 2015-2016 and aims to promote citizen participation in parliamentary activities and enhance the Parliament’s transparency and accountability.

23 May 2016

EU's New Strategy in the Field of Transportation Infrastructure

The article briefly discusses EU's new strategy in the field of transportation infrastructure and presents the description of the most interesting European corridor for Georgia.

20 May 2016

IDFI - Event in Honor of Georgian Officers Executed by Russian Bolsheviks

On May 20, IDFI in cooperation with Tbilisi City Hall, Ministry of Defense and the Archive of Ministry of Internal Affairs organized an event in honor of Georgian officers executed by Russian Bolsheviks in 1923. The event was opened with the Georgian anthem performed by the Defense Ministry's military orchestra. This was followed by a welcoming speech by IDFI director Giorgi Kldiashvili, who spoke about the contribution of the repressive officers to their homeland and their importance of both the past and the future of Georgia.

19 May 2016

Transparency of State Agencies - Monitoring Results

The latest monitoring was conducted in May 1-15, 2016. This time, we monitored the websites of the Government Administration and 16mMinistries, and looked for public information from 2015 and the first quarter of 2016. The study examines the practice of proactive disclosure of mandatory public information and compares the results with those of the previous 2014 monitoring.

19 May 2016

Problems with the Soft Budgetary (Constraints) Policy

The concept of the soft budgetary constraints, described for the socialist and later for the transformational states, is the fundamental contradiction in terms of macroeconomic stability, causes the increase in costs that happens faster than the mobilizing revenues through taxes, which is the precondition for loan accumulation.