In May 2012, Tajik and Kyrgyz officials visited Georgia to learn from the country’s experience in budget transparency issues.
Local government representatives, Finance Ministry officials and experts of the field visited the Rustavi Mayor’s Office, Rustavi Justice House, the Gori Municipality and the Ministry of Finance of Georgia. The guests were interested mostly in the issues like single-window service delivery to citizens, principles of operation of the Unified Office of the Citizens’ Service Bureau and Economic Development and local governments’ citizens’ reception practices. The guests were also introduced with different aspects of the administration of the electronic treasury and the operation of the system as well as with electronic budgeting issues. They personally attended the implementation of several administrative procedures.
At a meeting with Georgian experts the guests were introduced with the details of Georgian budget classification, budget revenues and their distribution between the central and local budgets, fiscal decentralization in Georgia, budget expenses and program budgeting, Georgia’s tax policy, citizens’ involvement in budget processes, the publicity of budget performance and other issues.
Georgian officials will also visit Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan to share Georgia’s experience about electronic budgeting with country’s officials. Representatives of the Caucasus Institute for Economic and Social Research are planned to visit the countries in July and August. At a meeting with Tajik and Kyrgyz colleagues Georgian experts will focus on transparency issues and the methodology of citizens’ involvement in budget processes. Tajikistan will host a final presentation on the topic: „Public Hearings, as an Element of Budget Transparency”
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The visit was conducted as part of the East-East Beyond Borders program in cooperation with the Caucasus Institute for Economic and Social Researches (Georgia), the Center of Public Policy (Kyrgyzstan) and NGO Center for Municipal Development (Tajikistan).