Tbilisi: The Chairman of the Environment Protection and Natural Resources Committee of the Georgian Parliament, Maia Bitadze, attended the session of the Permanent Parliamentary Council of Open Governance, where they discussed the obligations outlined in the draft of the 5th Action Plan of the Open Parliament (2023-2024).
The session was also attended by the deputy chairman of the Committee on – Khatia Tsilosani, and the head of the Committee’s office – Denis Salukvadze. At the meeting, the Chairman of the Parliament and the Chairman of the Permanent Parliamentary Council of Open Government – Shalva Papuashvili, focused on three obligations.
In particular, on the publication of video recordings of political debates on the website of the Parliament, on the topical issues of the openness of the Parliament at the annual conference, and on ensuring the involvement of citizens.
Regarding the obligation to publish video recordings of political debates on the website of the Parliament, according to Papuashvili, the issue may be discussed in a wider context and not limited to the publication of video recordings of political debates.
At the same time, speaking about the commitment made in connection with ensuring the involvement of citizens, an opinion was expressed on the possibility of improving the procedural part of the consideration of legislative proposals.
Further, about the issue of holding an annual conference on topical issues of the openness of the Parliament, the Chairman of the Parliament said that holding a conference of similar content is not a problem. However, he expressed an opinion about the expediency of having this obligation as a record in the action plan.
Regarding all three obligations, the members of the Council expressed their opinions. As the Chairman of the Council stated, the positions will be reconciled at the next meeting, which will be held this week.
The Council also discussed the new forms of the annual report of the Parliament and reports of the committees developed within the framework of the 4th Action Plan of the Open Parliament, which the Council approved.
The new forms of the annual report of the Parliament and the reports of the committees will be submitted to the Bureau of the Parliament for approval.