On March 5-6th, the workshop of the Permanent Parliamentary Council on Open and Transparent Governance of the Parliament of Georgia and the Consultative Group took place in Borjomi. The participants of the workshop discussed the commitments of the Open Parliament Georgia Action Plan 2015-2016, which are not fulfilled yet. Initiators of the commitments presented the concepts and the ways to implement the commitments. The Open Parliament Georgia Action Plan 2015-2016 consists of 18 commitments out of which only 2 are implemented: “Establishing Permanent Parliamentary Council on Open and Transparent Governance” (4.1 Commitment initiated by IDFI) and “Raising Public Education and Awareness on Activities, Role and Mission of the Parliament of Georgia; Strengthening Institutional Image and Role of the Parliament of Georgia” (1.6 Commitment initiated by the Office of the Parliament of Georgia).

The meeting was opened by Guguli Maghradze – Chairperson of the Permanent Parliamentary Council, Giorgi Kldiashvili – Director of IDFI and Sophie Guruli – representative of the UNDP Georgia. They underlined the importance of establishment of the Permanent Parliamentary Council on Open and Transparent Governance and urged the attendees to participate in the process of implementation of the Action plan more actively.

IDFI presented the concepts on the commitments the Institute had initiated: “Easing Access to the Parliamentary Information for Persons with Disabilities”, “Posting Documents on the Website of the Parliament of Georgia in an Editable Format,” “Allowing Comment on Draft Legislation (electronically and/or in writing),” and “Submitting Legislative Proposals and Initiatives Electronically to the Parliament of Georgia and Implementing its Support Mechanism through the Official Website of the Parliament of Georgia.” The Permanent Parliamentary Council approved the concepts and the participants of the workshop discussed the technical necessities and possibilities for implementing the above-mentioned commitments.

National Democratic Institute (NDI) presented the draft of the Code of Ethics, which was developed with the involvement of the representatives of the SCOs and consultations of Omar Amshave – Head of the Office of Ethics at the Congress of the USA and his assistant – Paul Sol. Participants argued about the topics related to the sanctions of the Code of Ethics and the enforcement mechanisms of it.

Concepts of the commitments were also presented by Transparency International – Georgia, Georgian Young Lawyers’ Association and Civil Society Institute.

It was concluded at the Meeting that three working groups should be established which will focus on: the Code of Ethics, Legislative Changes, and Technological Topics. Working groups will support the implementation of the Open Parliament Georgia Action Plan and ensure productivity of the Permanent Parliamentary Council and the Consultative Group.

The Meeting was held within the project - "Supporting the Parliament of Georgia in Implementation of the Open Parliament Georgia Action Plan"- which supports work of the Permanent Parliamentary Council and the Consultative Group in implementing the Open Parliament Georgia Action Plan 2015-2016. The project is implemented by IDFI with the financial support of the EU and UNDP.