Georgian, Czech justice ministries sign joint declaration of cooperation

Georgian justice minister Rati Bregadze and his Czech counterpart Pavel Blažek on Tuesday signed a joint declaration of cooperation between the ministries in the field of justice reform and support for digital governance.

The document, as the continuation of the cooperation between the countries that started within the framework of the Council of Europe’s ministerial in Prague, also includes the promotion of convergence with the European Union legislation, effective management of penitentiary, probation and crime prevention systems, and strengthening legal mutual assistance, the justice ministry said.

During the meeting, Bregadze highlighted the importance of establishing bilateral relations with partners in “such priority directions” as strengthening approaches based on the protection of human rights and continuing reforms in the system of the justice ministry, as well as digitising and increasing access to state services and progress in e-governance.

The ministry said the officials also discussed deepening bilateral relations between the countries and Georgia’s European integration, with Bregadze thanking his Czech counterpart for his “continuous” support to Georgia's EU integration process and its territorial integrity, and noting that the strengthening of institutional cooperation between the two countries, including the process of approximation of the Georgian and the EU legislations, has been “very important".

The parties discussed how the Copenhagen criteria have been met by Georgia, including the metrics on human rights and the rule of law, as a result of which the country would receive the EU candidate status, Blažek said.

It can be said that Georgia is making every effort to fulfil these conditions. Accordingly, I will inform the European Commissioner about the steps forward. I also had an opportunity to visit the Rustavi penitentiary facility, where I got convinced that the Georgian penitentiary system meets the EU standards", the Czech justice minister noted.

At the end of the meeting, Bregadze and Blažek discussed the initiative of creating a Georgia-Czech legal forum, which will be hosted alternately by Tbilisi and Prague every year.