PM: “NGOs’ involvement in decision-making process is of the utmost importance”
By Gvantsa Gabekhadze
Wednesday, January 27
The Prime Minister of Georgia, Giorgi Kvirikashvili, met the representatives of tNon-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) acting in Georgia on January 26.
It was the first such meeting between the two since Giorgi Kvirikashvili was confirmed as the new Prime Minister at the end of last year.
The significance of Non-Governmental Organisations’ (NGOs) involvement in the decision-making process and the prioritisation of state-important projects were the focus of the meeting.
“We want the governance to be even more transparent in Georgia and wish to increase the different groups’ involvement in the Government’s decision-making process,” PM Giorgi Kvirikashvili said.
“We want to speak sincerely and openly over the issues that are of high importance for us, and for the public,” Georgia’s top official added.
The PM informed the NGOs over the daily schedule of the Cabinet of Ministers.
The PM highlighted that all the ministers jointly discussed the projects drafted by certain ministries on a daily basis and prioritised them.
“The prioritisation is based on three criteria: the importance of the topic for the public, the existence of appropriate resources for implementing the projects and whether the projects are in line with the state’s overall strategy.
“We select 3-5 projects from each ministry and the selection process will then be finalised in one month’s time,” the PM said.
On this note, the PM said that after the completion of the prioritisation process, the Government would hold a presentation, naming the target projects for each ministry.
The PM stated that it was a very interesting process which would also heavily involve Parliament.
The head of the Government stressed that after a certain period of time, the priorities would also be discussed with NGOs to ensure their maximal involvement in the process.
After the meeting, the head of the Georgian Young Lawyers’ Association (GYLA), Ana Natsvlishvili, said that she was satisfied with the meeting and described the occasion as productive and business-oriented.
She said that the NGOs spoke about a range of issues, challenges and necessities, the importance of systemic reforms - especially in the judicial and elections systems - among them.
“We received certain promises from the PM. Such meetings should take place systematically,” Natsvlishvili said.
