Georgia to chair Open Government Partnership from September 2017

Georgia is getting ready to assume the chairmanship of the Open Government Partnership (OGP) Steering Committee in September 2017.

The OGP is a multilateral initiative of the United States and Brazil, in which about 70 governments work together with citizens to promote transparency, fight corruption and use technology as an enabler of governmental openness.

Today national stakeholders of the Open Government Georgia met with the OGP Support Unit Deputy Director Joe Powel and Director for Civil Society Engagement Paul Maassen in Tbilisi.

The meeting discussed Georgia’s vision, plans and expectations ahead of the country’s chairmanship year.

Great meeting @TotladzeKhatuna + @MFAgovge on Georgia's plans for chairing @opengovpart from September - openness values crucial right now pic.twitter.com/3iPvZXQj9A

— Joe Powell (@josephpowell) April 3, 2017

The meeting brought together key stakeholders involved in the OGP process in Georgia, including the Government of Georgia, Parliament of Georgia, Tbilisi City Hall, civil society and international organisations.

Georgia will assume the OGP chairmanship for a year. During this period the country’s strategic goals will be:

• Ensuring citizen engagement
• Promoting citizen-oriented governance
• Promoting transparency and fighting corruption
• Supporting innovative ideas in delivering public services

Georgia joined OGP in September 2011. Since then, the Georgian government together with civil society organisations has implemented a number of initiatives to promote transparency, empower citizens, and combat corruption with the overall goal of strengthening good governance in the country.

In April 2015, the Parliament of Georgia endorsed a Declaration on Parliamentary Openness and Memorandum with international and non-governmental organisations, thus making Georgia the first country in the region to promote legislative openness.

In May 2016, Georgia, together with France, became a Co-Chair of the OGP Steering Committee, an executive, decision-making body which develops, promotes and safeguards the values and principles of OGP as well as establishes ideas, policies and rules of the partnership and oversees its functioning. The Steering Committee consists of 22 members - 11 from government and 11 from civil society.