In October 2014, with the support of Crystal Fund, the Business and Economic Centre (BEC) was reestablished as an independent platform for legislative dialogue, aiming to contribute towards more effective and predictable economic legislation and the regulatory environment for inclusive economic growth. The BEC, with support of the Fund, also renewed cooperation with the UK-based International Association Enterprise and Parliamentary Dialogue International (EPDI), launching international experience sharing programs.
In September, 2015, after a year of successful awareness raising campaigns and trust building activities, BEC delivered the first structured and inclusive public-private dialogue (PPD) in the Parliament of Georgia in coordination with the Chairman of the Parliament on the drafted Civil Code amendment abolishing Police eviction of persons from immovable property without a Court Decision.
A common trend for public-private dialogue (PPD) in Georgia was that it existed as an informal process and usually occurred on an ad-hoc basis. In December 2015, with the support of Crystal Fund and EPDI, the Business and Economic Centre developed a new PPD methodology and between 2016-2018 established and strengthened a permanent rule-based Public-Private Dialogue Platform in Parliament within the framework of the USAID project Governing for Growth (G4G) in Georgia.
Over the last few years, BEC’s PPD methodology was applied to promote better governance practices and address various policy issues, large-scale reforms and draft laws, such as: Land Registration Reform, Pension Reform, Capital Market Reform, Regulatory Impact Assessment (RIA) System Institutionalization in Georgia, Insolvency Reform, Green Economy, Energy Efficiency, Transport Policy, Water Resource Management, E-commerce.
With support of the Fund, BEC works to facilitate transparent and effective relationships and strengthen constructive legislative dialogue on economic issues between the business community, civil society and the Parliament of Georgia. The core purposes of BEC are to: (1) Enhance the participation of the private sector and civil society in the legislative processes; (2) Build mutual understanding between policymakers and those affected by the policy; and thereby, (3) Support the informed judgments of policymakers about business and the economy.
From a longer-term perspective, promotion of BEC as an independent, non-lobbying and non-sectoral platform for constructive and result oriented PPD development was a visible commitment to:
Nowadays, the Parliamentary PPD activities held by BEC are supported by the Crystal Fund and the U.S. Embassy in Georgia, within the framework of the project Enhancing Multi-stakeholder PPD for Inclusive Economic Growth. The Project aims to improve the quality of multi-stakeholder engagement in economic policymaking, contribute to the onset of investment climate reforms and develop Georgia’s private sector and entrepreneurial environment, promoting accountable and responsible economic governance.
For more information please visit the web page of Business and Economic Centre (BEC): http://bec.ge
