On
March 7, 2017 the Launch Ceremony of the Parliamentary PPD Platform –
established by BEC in 2016 with support of the USAID G4G – was held in the
Parliament of Georgia.
Welcome speeches were given by the Chairman of the Parliament Mr. Irakli
Kobakhidze; the USAID Deputy Mission Director Mr. Thomas Morris; Chief of Party
of the USAID Governing for Growth (G4G) in Georgia Project Ms. Natalia
Beruashvili; Chairman of BEC Mr. Archil Bakuradze; General Manager for BP in
Georgia Christopher Mr. D. Schlueter; Chairman of the Environmental Protection
and Natural Resources Committee of the Parliament of Georgia Mr. Kakhaber
Kuchava and the Deputy Minister of Economy and Sustainable Development of
Georgia Ms. Nino Javakhadze. The BEC project –
Strengthening the Public-Private Dialogue (PPD) Platform in Parliament, funded
by USAID G4G, was presented by the Project Manager, the Executive Director of
BEC Ms. Natia Katsiashvili.
The Chairman expressed his commitment for cooperation with USAID and Business and Economy Center and thanked them for their contribution.
The project helps us in implementation of one of the most important priorities – economic reforming, and I would like to note that the project will facilitate to capacity building of the Parliament, which is one of our primary tasks and priorities. Let me reiterate that we have an ambitious and long-term plan in terms of capacity building of the Parliament. The first phase of the presented project [Establishing PPD Platform in Parliament, 2016] was very successful. The second phase aims to continue the activity, which I believe, will also be very successful… implementation of the project will ensure a well-informed dialogue between the public and private sectors in order to conduct an effective policy-making process and supervision of the implementation of the corresponding reforms.
Mr. Thomas Morris also addressed the attendees. He thanked the Chairman for his merit and noted that attendance of the Chairman at the presentation evidences commitment of the Parliament for involvement in economic policy reforming.
Today, we start the second stage of the Parliament-public-private dialogue aiming at discussions between MPs and business circles. The first stage was quite successful upon discussion of the issues such are: land reform, pension reform etc. We expect wide consensus to facilitate to the “second generation economic reforms.
The Chairman of the Environmental Protection and Natural Resources, Mr. Kakhaber Kuchava spoke about importance of the dialogue.
If we consider our ambitious and result-oriented plans of the Government, we will realize importance to understand the companies, to hear their voice. I would like to thank the organizers of the platform as it is the guarantee to ensure the result we strive for – strong economy and rapid development. There are lots of issues to be further developed. Prior to adoption of any of the laws, we shall have the correct communication with private sector with all the players able for facilitation. I would like to ensure you that the 9th Term will be intensively participating in this activity to achieve the outlined goal
The event was attended by approximately 90 representatives of governmental and non-governmental organizations, the private sector, the diplomatic corps, international organizations, academic circles and media, including Chairmen of the Parliamentary Committees and Factions and Deputy Ministers from relevant ministries.