Meeting of the Chairperson of the Parliament of Georgia with representatives of the Business Association of Georgia 

9 Oct '13

On 9th of October Business Association of Georgia organized a meeting at the hotel Radisson between the chairperson of the Parliament of Georgia Davit Usupashvili and representatives of the Business Association member companies.
The agenda of the meeting included discussion of the future prospects of the format of cooperation between the Parliament and the businesses.
As pointed out by the President of the Business Association of Georgia George Chirakadze at the very outset of the meeting, "Parliament, as a supreme legislative body of the country, has a capacity to play an important role in the formation and improvement of the regulatory legal base for businesses; It is important that this process involves effective mechanisms of communication to ensure that legislators are informed about the objective needs and vision of businesses".
Chairperson of the Parliament discussed in detail with the meeting participants the ongoing processes in the legislative body and the legislative acts that are of particular interest for businesses. As stated by David Usupashvili, over the last year Parliament had to work on such legislative initiatives that do not enjoy universal support.
"A genuine parliament is emerging within the current Parliament, which is not a collective body enforcing the wishes of one or two individuals,  but a body which enables debate and resolution of issues through the debates. This is a requisite as crucial for a democracy, as finances is for all of you. Please, do not be concerned if you hear the news, that the Parliament launched discussions on a certain draft legislation that would not affect businesses positively. Any member of the Parliament may initiate a draft legislation, as he/she is entitled to do so. The actual process follows afterwards. Let us get involved in this process together, discuss and make adjustments to it" - chairperson of the Parliament addressed the business representatives.
During the meeting the development over several important legal acts has been discussed. In particular: moratorium on selling to foreigners of the agricultural lands, legal regulation on the liquidation of mortgaged property, labor code, etc.
The important outcome of the meeting was an agreement based on which the chairperson of the Parliament, and chairs of parliamentary committees together with interested members of the Parliament to periodically meet with representatives of the Business Association of Georgia in order to discuss the working process on legislative acts that are important for businesses and other related issues. This format will ensure that businesses communicate directly to the legislators their opinion through a transparent and open communication channel and talk about pressing issues. 
Moreover, the parties agreed at the meeting that the Business Association of Georgia will be represented in the Georgian parliament by a lobbyist, which will create conditions for businesses to exchange information with the legislative body basically on a daily basis.
In his assessment of the meeting with the chairperson of the Parliament, president of the business association George Chirakadze stated " the format of cooperation that was launched today, will be fundamentally important and mutually beneficial for all stakeholders, as this is the most effective way to enable business groups and the Parliament to work on mutual problems in an intensive and open manner.