On 24-25 September 2018, the Parliament of Georgia hosted the 1st Working Meeting of Secretaries General of Parliamentary Administrations of the Eastern Partnership Countries in Tbilisi, Georgia. The Meeting served as an inaugural occasion for establishing the new regional cooperation format between the Parliamentary Administrations of the Eastern Partnership countries and was attended by the Chief of Staff-Secretary General National Assembly of the Republic of Armenia, Mr Ara Saghatelyan, Secretary General of the Milli Mejlis of the Republic of Azerbaijan, Mr Safa Mirzayev, Secretary General of the Council of the Republic of the National Assembly of the Republic of Belarus, Mr Aleksander Slobodchuk, Secretary General of the House of Representatives of the National Assembly of the Republic of Belarus, Mrs Galina Yurkevich, Secretary General of the Parliament of Georgia, Mr Givi Mikanadze, Secretary General the Parliament of the Republic of Moldova, Mrs Ala Popescu and the Acting Secretary General of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, Mr Petro Bodnar.

 

The Chairman of the Parliament of Georgia, Mr Irakli Kobakhidze addressed the Secretaries General of Parliaments of the Eastern Partnership countries and stressed the importance of enhancing inter-parliamentary relations and regional cooperation on the level of parliamentary administrations. The secretary General of the Parliament of Georgia, Mr Givi Mikanadze introduced the initiative of creating a new regional framework for strengthening cooperation and establishing the exclusive platform for parliamentary administrations of the Eastern Partnership countries to conduct joint capacity-building and experience-sharing activities. The attending Secretaries General overviewed the general practice of their parliamentary administrations and discussed further ways to enhance cooperation.

 

In the framework of the Meeting the Memorandum of Understanding, further referred to as the TBILISI Memorandum, between the Staff of the National Assembly of the Republic of Armenia, the Secretariat of the House of Representatives of the National Assembly of the Republic of Belarus, the Secretariat of the Council of the Republic of the National Assembly of the Republic of Belarus, the Apparatus of the Parliament of Georgia, the Secretariat of the Parliament of the Republic of Moldova and the Secretariat of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, was signed by the respective Secretaries General on 25 September 2018. The decision was made to have the representatives of the parliamentary administration of the Milli Mejlis of the Republic of Azerbaijan complimentarily invited to all capacity-building and experience-sharing activities within the newly established framework.

 

The 1st Working Meeting of Secretaries General of Parliamentary Administrations of the Eastern Partnership Countries was complemented with the presence of the Deputy Director of the Bundestag of the Federal Republic of Germany, Professor Ulrich Schöler, the Secretary General of the Supreme Council of the Autonomous Republic of Adjara (Georgia), Mrs Maia Khajishvili, representatives of the diplomatic missions of the respective countries in Georgia and the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH.