Georgia to Host Open Gov’t Partnership Summit in 2018

Georgia is to host an Open Government Partnership (OGP) Global Summit as a lead co-chair of the OGP. The summit is to be held on July 17-19.

The event is to gather representatives from over 70 countries, including government officials, ministers, civil servants and members of parliament, civil society representatives, local authorities, researchers, academicians and media.

The summit is expected to be hosted by Giorgi Kvirikashvili, Prime Minister of Georgia.

“The OGP 2018 Global Summit will focus on civic engagement, the fight against corruption, and public service delivery,” the summit announcement reads. “The objectives of the summit are to promote peer learning, inspire OGP reformers to raise the level of ambition, and push the open government agenda forward to address new challenges and improve the lives of citizens around the world.”

The Open Government Partnership is described as a multilateral initiative with a goal to “secure concrete commitments from governments to promote transparency, empower citizens, fight corruption, and harness new technologies to strengthen governance.”

It was launched on September 20, 2011, when eight of its founding governments- Brazil, Indonesia, Mexico, Norway, Philippines, South Africa, the United Kingdom and the United States -made the Open Government Declaration, and announced their country action plans. Since 2011, the OGP has welcomed the commitment of 67 additional governments in joining the Partnership.

Since then, “over 70 OGP participating countries and 15 subnational governments have made over 2,500 commitments to make their governments more open and accountable.”

Nino Gugunishvili