The National Association of Local Authorities of Georgia (NALAG) organized the First Meeting of Thematic Group of Cities, which was held at “Georgia Palace Hotel & Spa Kobuleti”, within the project “Networking for Efficiency and Development” (N4ED), financed by the EU.

Mr. David Melua, Executive Director of NALAG delivered the welcome remarks to the participants of the meeting, among the participants were the representatives of local authorities of Self-Governing Cities and big urban settlements (Gori, Zugdidi).

David Melua talked about the importance of the project and noted that the goal of today's meeting is to discuss challenges in municipalities and search for their solution mechanisms.

Ms. Natya Ghvinashvili, Deputy Executive Director of NALAG, also addressed the participants with a welcome speech, focusing on the role of NALAG in the development of local democracy in the country, she listed the main mechanisms of efficient development – transparency, citizen participation and exchanging experience between municipalities.

During the first meeting of the thematic group participants discussed territorial scope of citizen participation in the urban settlements, the role of cities in the implementation of the decentralization strategy and Smart-City concept, after which the important part of the event was dedicated to the presentations from the representatives of municipalities.

Main topics discussed on the first meeting of thematic group were as followed: “Citizen Participation in decision-making process – example of Strasbourg”; “Decentralization Strategy 2019-2025- Role and Participation of cities”; “CLLD Methodology and LAG in Georgia”; “Smart City Concept – Innovative Approaches”, after which the meeting continued in the format of discussion.

As the organizers of the event explained, the main purpose of the meeting was to create communication network between cities for solving common problems for each of them.

At the end of the meeting, the participants presented their proposals, agreed on the communication network and set future cooperation plans.

Mr. David Melua stated that: „At today’s meeting, representatives from large cities have the opportunity to discuss the challenges and projects, which they face and carry out in everyday activities. Our goal is to determine the ways for solving the issues through joint discussions and to present them to the executive and legislative authorities of Georgia. We believe that as a result of such cooperation on the implementation of certain legislative amendments and policy documents it is possible to fix this problem.   At the same time we realize that these challenges are complex and they need some time to be solved.”

NALAG’s executive director also spoke about the importance of a more mobile, well-organized and result-oriented model of city management and noted that it is important to increase the role of cities in the economy of Georgia and at the same time it is necessary to develop and better manage  capacities.

The project "Networking for Efficiency and Development" is implemented by the National Association of Local Authorities of Georgia (NALAG) in cooperation with the Latvian Association of Local and Regional Governments and PMCG. The project is supported by the European Union. Overall aim of the project is to enhance good governance and sustainable development on the local level in Georgia through capacity building and exchange of experience between Georgian municipalities. This project will be implemented in all the municipalities of Georgia.