Georgia co-chair of Open Government Partnership

By Gvantsa Gabekhadze

Friday, May 6

Georgia’s Prime Minister said being co-chair of the OGP was a very big achievement.

In October last year in Mexico, Georgia’s Parliamentary Inter-Faction Group won a special award initiated by the OGP.

Georgia has become co-chair of the Open Government Partnership (OPG), an international platform uniting 69 foreign states to empower open and effective governance worldwide.

Georgia’s Prime Minister Giorgi Kvirikashvili announced the news at today’s governmental meeting.

He said Georgia’s new role in the OPG was due to the country’s successful reforms and continued efforts to provide better governance.

France had moved up to become OGP chair country this year, while next year Georgia will replace France and take the leading position within the OGP.

“I believe it is a very big achievement. Georgia has hosted two international forums dedicated to open governance,” said the Georgian PM.

“We actively launched reforms to ensure open governance in 2013. On November 1 2013, Georgia’s reforms regarding access to public information was named among the seven best projects at the OGP London annual summit,” said Kvirikashvili.

In October last year in Mexico, Georgia’s Parliamentary Inter-Faction Group won a special award initiated by OGP.

Georgia was awarded the inaugural Government Champions Award, which aimed to showcase the ideal collaborative relationship between government and civil society while developing a National Action Plan – an obligation Georgia took in February 2015 when the Parliament of Georgia joined the OGP.

IDFI, a Georgian non-governmental organization, nominated Parliament’s Inter-Factional Working Group - composed of majority and minority lawmakers - for the OGP Award.

The OGP, founded in 2011, 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.

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.

In total, 69 OGP participating countries have made over 2,250 commitments to make their governments more open and accountable, stated the OGP official webpage.