The Open Government Permanent Parliamentary Council (OGP) held an information meeting with the members of the newly established Open Government Council of the Supreme Council of the Autonomous Republic of Adjara to share experiences on the involvement of legislatures in the Open Government Partnership.

Vice-Speaker of the Parliament, Chair of the Council, Kakha Kutchava spoke about the activities, achievements and action plan of the Council: “The Parliament of Georgia was recognized as the most open Parliament in the world and was awarded with the OGP Government Champions Award at the OGP Global Summit 2015 in Mexico. It was a great achievement, encouraging us to move further. We set even larger goals and our achievements confirm that the Council is successfully carrying out its activities", - Kakha Kutchava remarked.

According to him, along with the openness of the Parliament and access to information, involvement of civil society is also of utmost importance - "It is important for me to ensure the involvement of civil society in the process of drafting an open parliament action plan, because as a result, not only MPs and the parliament in general, but also each person who participated in this process has a feeling of "ownership", - the Chair of the Council noted.

Kakha Kutchava provided detailed information on the process of elaborating the Action Plan of the Open Parliament for 2020-2021 and answered the questions of the members of the Open Government Council of the Supreme Council of the Autonomous Republic of Adjara.

Member of the Council, Vice-Speaker of the Parliament, Giorgi Kakhiani, spoke about the importance of the participation of the legislature in the Open Government Partnership and the results achieved: “This process has yielded several significant innovations in parliamentary life. The aim of the process was, on the one hand, to ensure greater citizen involvement in the legislative process and, at the same time, to ensure publicity and transparency of parliamentary activities”.

The participants also talked about issues such as planning and organizing the activities of the Parliamentary Council and ensuring the involvement of stakeholders.

Chairman of the AR Supreme Council, David Gabaidze, who also chairs the Open Government Council of the Autonomous Republic of Adjara, as well as members of the Council and representatives of NGOs also participated in the meeting.

The meeting was convened online and backed by IDFI and UNDP.