The first panel of International Conference discussed legislative involvement policy. The first panel was dedicated to good practice, challenges and steps for development. Legislative involvement policy was endorsed by the OGP Governing Committee in September, 2016, which was the first forward to distribution of authority between the branches.

It entailed other Parliaments to join the OGP platform and to develop the action plan obligations.

The participants discussed the current challenges and opportunities. The panel was moderated by the OGP Supervisory Council Co-Chair, Mukelani Dimba. Latin America has 39 laws on accessibility and transparency of information. “21 of them were initiated by the Parliament, including the laws on conflict of interests and fiscal transparency. We are proud that the Parliament works in this direction and we are the part of the partnership to ensure transparency, openness and accountability to to encourage the parliamentary activity”, - he noted.

33% of the action plans is directed to implementation of OGP obligations. “That is why we need the open partnership to support each other in reforming. Policy covers 3 main parts: Parliamentary involvement in OGP and implementation of the action plan obligations. We recommend development of the standalone Article directed to certain Parliaments. However, necessity of the standalone articles in the action plans depends on consistency of the Parliamentary activity. The Parliaments shall adhere to the uniform standard, to hold consultations on equal standards, to equally adhere to own obligations and independent accountability mechanism. We had 18 months for these experiments”.

The Canadian MP, Randy Boissonnault, the ParlAmericas Vice President introduced the Canadian experience and benefits of involvement in OGP. He spoke about the challenges and achievements. Canada scrutinizes the budget prior to endorsement. The new position was introduced – Ethics Officer and the petitions are submitted through internet. “When the citizens submit the petition through social media, speed of further developments becomes crystal clear”. Involvement in OGP is the opportunity for unification for the people committed to transform activity of the authority. “The Parliament shall assume the global leadership. We shall share our experience and continue cooperation as it is the activity for achievement of the 16th objective of sustainable development. Inclusive institutions constitute the mechanism allowing cooperation within OGP to make the Parliament more relevant for the population”.

The Vice Speaker of Serbian Parliament, Gordana Comic spoke about Serbian experience. “Serbia accessed OGP not only in formal manner but with innovative ideas”. The Parliaments shall reduce the chaos by the populists which undermines the trust of the population to the politicians. “We have created the green Parliamentary network with participation of all political parties. We help the civil society on ecology and environment as these issues shall be included in the agenda of all political parties. We created the women network in the Parliament and we work on the issues such are: domestic violence, economic representative in policy etc. We have the agenda and strive to achieve the obligations. We created the parliamentary portal and the Budget office open for everyone to oversee the disposal of the budget and consumption of the budget. It is important as it concerns money”.

The Chair of the Parliamentary Permanent Open Governance Council, Irina Pruidze echoed the opinion by G. Comic on populism. The world combats the crisis towards the institutions, she noted. “The Government, business and media try to regulate the processes and regain the trust through reforming. The Parliament serves as one of the mechanisms for this purpose. We need effective and strong Parliament to be open, accountable and inclusive. I am proud that Georgia is one of the leading countries signing the Parliamentary Openness Declaration in 2015. We have set up the Parliamentary Council and set to implementation of the first action plan”.

Last week, the Bureau endorsed the third action plan: "We have the 3rd action plan to be involved with wide public involvement”. The action plans are developed as a result of cooperation with the civil society. “It is a good example shared by OGP champions”.

We have implemented 20 out of 22 obligations during the last 2 years. Good cooperation factors are: common goals, good will and communication. “All three components are crucial for good cooperation and Georgia is the success model that we have all three components and cherish good objectives, we have the good will to achieve the goals through communication skills”. It resulted in existence of diversity of the ideas.

She spoke about the changes within the reforming: "We developed the list of the proactive information to be uploaded on the Parliamentary website. For instance, MP activity, Parliamentary activities, financial information on business trips etc. We have the petition and legislative initiative submission e-mechanism”.

The Georgian Parliament has undertaken to publish annual reports. “We are one of the unique Parliaments to start oversight of OGP plan implementation. We have developed the self-assessment instruments and ensure various assessments. On this basis, we develop strategies and plans”.

Public meetings and consultations have been held in view of hearing the ideas for open Parliament action plan for 2018-2019. The meetings were held in Tbilisi and the regions. “We jointly strive to enhance the trust towards the institutions and to make our institutions more accountable”.

The Legislative Director, Maria Baron introduced the experience of Latin American countries. Chile implements the 3rd and Paraguay the 2nd action plan. Columbia introduced the interesting method on OGP: the Government and Congress in Columbia are unified to solve the directions to ensure transparency. “Congress in Columbia has been through significant transformation in various directions as in terms of regulations, so internal guidelines. The example of Costa Rica is also interesting. They have the joint plans and we expect implementation”.

The Chair of Kenya City Assembly, Philemon Kiplagat Sabulei spoke about steps by Kenya Government and Provinces in open governance terms. The Parliaments of the provinces shall ensure representation of all parties concerned in the municipalities and the Parliament. “Women shall have the equal opportunities and if their number is not sufficient, then all political parties are obliged to nominate women candidates to ensure 2/3 of gender equality. It also concerns the minorities”.

He spoke about the law on Public Participation envisaging the meetings in all the villages. “We are proud that we ensure equal distribution of the resources between the provinces. The Parliament plays the critical role in development of the budget and ensures equal shares to all the provinces”.

The Parliamentary Day was organized by the Georgian Parliament in cooperation with OGP and supported by: EU, UNDP, USAID/GGI, GIZ, NDI and IDFI.