Democracy and Governance

U.S. Ambassador to Georgia John R. Bass will participate in the launch of the U.S. Agency for International Development's (USAID) Parliamentary Strengthening Program. The event will take place on Wednesday, June 30 at 3:00 pm in the Shota Rustaveli Hall of the Parliament of Georgia.

Speaker of Parliament Davit Bakradze and will join Ambassador Bass in making welcoming remarks followed by the signing of a memorandum of understanding between the Parliament of Georgia and USAID.  There will be a press conference and media availability following the signing.

The U.S. Government is proud to support the first-ever televised debates for candidates competing in the May 30^th Tbilisi mayoral elections.  The debates will be aired live on Georgia Public Broadcaster (GPB) on Saturday May 8^th and Sunday May 9^th at 9:00 pm.  The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) provided support for the debates as part of its Civil Society and Elections Assistance Project.

The U.S. Government is sponsoring a series of youth political debates as part of joint program with the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and the International Republic Institute (IRI). U.S. Embassy Deputy Chief of Mission Kent Logsdon will open the next debate, which takes place on Saturday, April 24, 2010 at 1:00 p.m. at Givi Zaldastanishvili American Academy, 37a Chavchavadze Avenue.

U.S. Ambassador to Georgia John R. Bass is proud to announce the U.S. Government's support for 18 local NGOs to support civil society and media participation in the upcoming May 30 local elections.  The U.S.

The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and the National Democratic Institute for International Affairs (NDI) hosted a graduation ceremony for the 2009 class of the Future Women Leaders Program on Monday, July 20, 2009. U.S. Ambassador to Georgia, John F. Tefft and Deputy Speaker of the Georgian Parliament, Rusudan Kervalishvili spoke at the ceremony.  Members of Parliament, representatives of political parties and NGOs, and media were present.

The United States Agency for International Development's (USAID) Judicial Administration and Management Reform Project (JAMR) will present a two-day seminar, "Delay Reduction and Caseflow Management," in Batumi on July 18-19.  The seminar will provide training for members of the Supreme Court, the High Council of Justice, trial court chairpersons, judges and chiefs of staff.  Presenters include Judge Bernt Krohg of the Norwegian Mission of Rule of Law Advisers to Georgia, the JAMR Chief and Deputy Chief of Party, Albert Szal and Kakha Tsikarishvili.

On April 6, 2009, USAID announced a request for applications (RFA) entitled Improved Public Policy Discourse to support one or more competitively selected programs to foster a more pluralistic and higher quality exchange of ideas and to promote more active engagement of Georgian citizens in public policy discussions.

New Amendments to Government of Georgia Regulation #140, Construction Permit Issuance Procedure and Permit Terms, adopted during the recent conflict between Georgia and Russia, simplify construction permitting and clarify procedures.  The amendments, which reduce time and costs, and increase transparency, were drafted by Government of Georgia with technical assistance from the USAID Business Climate Reform project.

Tbilisi - On July 15, 2008, the Speaker of the Parliament of Georgia, Mr. David Bakradze, and the Ambassador of the United States of America to Georgia, John F. Tefft, hosted a graduation ceremony for the 2007-2008 NDI Parliamentary Interns of the National Democratic Institute for International Affairs (NDI) at 3pm.

TBILISI - The National Democratic Institute (NDI) held a press conference on Friday, April 11, at the Courtyard Marriott Hotel to present NDI’s Code of Conduct for Party Activists during the Parliamentary Elections. The event was held at 12 pm in the hotel’s ballroom.