Tbilisi hosts Open Government Partnership global summit

The government of Georgia will host the 5th Open Government Partnership (OGP) Global Summit in Tbilisi on July 17-19.

The summit will provide an excellent opportunity for leaders from OGP’s 76 participating countries, local governments, and beyond to exchange ideas on how they are making their governments more transparent, accountable, and responsive to citizens, the government of Georgia says.

The #OGPGeorgia Summit is a great opportunity for Governments to better understand citizens and for citizens to better understand Governments. We at @ungeorgia are looking forward to being part this significant event. https://t.co/A4gY70Gsov

— Niels Scott (@NielsScott) July 16, 2018

The OGP 2018 Global Summit will focus on civic engagement, fighting against corruption, and public service delivery. The objectives of the Summit are to promote peer learning, inspire OGP reformers to raise the level of ambition, and push the open government agenda forward to address new challenges and improve the lives of citizens around the world,” the OPG official page reads.

Georgia assumed the chairmanship of the OGP Steering Committee in September 2017, which meant that for the first time Georgia became the chair of the OGP for a one year term taking the role from France.

During its OGP chairmenship Georgia’s strategic goals are:

• Strengthen co-creation and citizen engagement;
• Advancing transparency and the fight against corruption;
• Generating innovation in public service delivery;
• Building a better partnership.

Back in beloved Georgia . My first mtg was the first ever mtg by @DZalkaliani as minister of foreign affairs, he was confirmed on Saturday! EU is a friend and strong supporter of ! Looking forward to #OGPsummit showcasing Georgia’s reforms. pic.twitter.com/poLmnunhST

— Katarina Mathernova (@kmathernova) July 16, 2018

OPG is a multilateral initiative that aims to secure concrete commitments from governments to promote transparency, empower citizens, fight corruption, and harness new technologies to strengthen governance. In the spirit of multi-stakeholder collaboration, OGP is overseen by a Steering Committee including representatives of governments and civil society organisations.

To become a member of OGP, participating countries must endorse a high-level Open Government Declaration, deliver a country action plan developed with public consultation, and commit to independent reporting on their progress going forward.