On May 13th, the Non-Governmental and International Organizations, participating in the Open Parliament Georgia Working Group, met to discuss the issues of the Parliamentary Openness. Meeting was held, with the Initiative of the Transparency International Georgia and the Institute for Development of Freedom of Information (IDFI), within the project “Supporting Parliament of Georgia Involvement in Open Government Partnership” that is implemented by the Institute for Development of Freedom of Information (IDFI) with the partnership of the Parliament of Georgia within the joint project “Strengthening the System of Parliamentary Democracy in Georgia” of the European Union (EU) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).

The discussion was chaired by, the representative of Transparency International Georgia, George Topouria. Main areas of discussion were Culture of Parliamentary Openness, regulation of Freedom of Information, easing access to Parliamentary Information etc. Representatives of Non-Governmental and International Organizations shared their experience regarding the issues mentioned above and suggested recommendations and the possible solutions how above mentioned problems could be solved. 

Regarding the Parliamentary Openness representatives suggested permitting authorization of Parliamentary sessions, providing the information on timely manner, ensuring legal sources and extensive information etc. The participants of the meeting highlighted the importance of the involvement of the civil sector in the issues of the freedom of information, email notifications and search tool on the webpage of the Parliament of Georgia.

Participants of the meeting discussed the importance of access of the ethnical minorities to the webpage and to the documents of the Parliament of Georgia. The attendees underlined that providing the information to the ethnical minorities in their first language would be the first step to increase their engagement in the parliamentary activities.

In the end of the meeting the participants agreed that they would continue their cooperation regarding the Parliamentary Openness and offer the recommendations to the Open Parliament Georgia Working Group for its further implementation in the Open Parliament Georgia Action Plan.