A seminar on the issues of access to information was held for the representatives of the regional media on October 26, in Kutaisi, in the hotel Rcheuli Palace.
The one-day seminar has been organized by the Institute for Development of Freedom of Information (IDFI), within the framework of the joint program of the Council of Europe and European Union – “Promoting Freedom, Professionalism and Pluralism of the Media in the South Caucasus and Moldova”.

The participants of the seminar included representatives of the printed and television media from Kutaisi, Batumi and Ozurgeti.
The seminar was opened by the representative of the Council of Europe Leila Dervishiajic (Department of Media) and the director of the Institute for Development of Freedom of Information Giorgi Kldiashvili.
The meeting consisted of two parts. Giorgi Kldiashvili told the journalists about the history of the freedom of information, international legislation of access to information and the modern trends, also discussed in details the Open Government Partnership and Georgian participation in this initiative.
Levan Avalishvili (Chairman of the Board of IDFI and the director of the project “Public Information Database – www.opendata.ge”) discussed such issues as Georgian legislation of freedom of information, access to information in the administrative bodies and the judicial practice.

Levan Avalishvili also told the representatives of the regional media about the changes into the General Administrative Code of Georgia (III Chapter – Freedom of Information), the proactive release of information and the advantages of implementation of the electronic access to information.

Besides, the invited expert of the seminar, Head of the legal group of the Bulgarian non-governmental organization “Access to Information Program”, Alexander Kashumov shared his experience with the Georgian journalists. He discussed about the existing legislature and its usage by the Bulgarian journalists.

Alexander Kashumov also showed documentary, depicting the story of the successful investigations of the Bulgarian journalists.

At the end of the seminar a discussion was held. The journalists talked about their own experience, questions were asked, evaluations made, the practice of access to public documents and the future challenges have been discussed.

The seminar for journalists, held within the framework of the program of the Council of Europe and European Union, was organized by the Institute for Development of Freedom of Information held for the second time. The participants of the first seminar, which took place on July 6, 2012 in the Hotel “Betsy”, included representatives of the central media.