Commitment: Inovative platform of economic governance
Commitment Description: To increase public engagement in the initiation, processing, and implementation of economic reforms, the OGP Georgia Action Plan for 2018-2019 envisions the commitment of the Ministry of Economy and Sustainable Development of Georgia to create an innovative platform of economic governance.

Under the Ministry's initiative in 2018, an interactive portal - YOU.GOV.GE was created aimed at keeping various target groups updated and involved in the process of economic policy development and enabling efficient decision-making, transparency of processes, increasing the predictability of the business environment, and creation of an efficient communication channel. An interactive portal will also allow the citizens and the private sector to provide feedback on the reforms. Outcome: Public involvement in the planning and implementation of economic reforms has been increased
Timeline: Start date - May 2018, End date - June 2019
OGP Thematic Areas: Transparency, Accountability, Innovation and Technology, Engagement
Reporting Period: 2019, Annual
Lead Agency: Ministry of Economy and Sustainable Development
The abovementioned commitment was modified after activation of the portal in a test mode. Due to the increased interest of various target groups, including economic researchers and academic circles, it was decided to reorganize the portal and put a bigger emphasis on scholars' and experts' participation in the process.

The Ministry looked into the possibilities that would make the portal more interactive and user-friendly. Eventually, the Ministry of Economy and Sustainable Development reviewed the opportunity to form a workgroup of field experts and the mechanisms of their co-participation in economic policy development. The above will contribute to the receipt of quality feedback related to the current and planned economic reforms.

In the reporting period, the improvement of the portal’s content was finalized and the following information on the implemented, ongoing, and planned reforms within the competence of the Ministry of Economy and Sustainable Development (including various sectoral reforms in the fields of energy, minerals, communications, etc.) was uploaded:

• Brief descriptions of the reforms, justification for the reform, international experiences, economic effects of the reforms, and answers to FAQ related to their progress;
• Draft laws and/or explanatory notes related to the reforms;
• The progress on the reform implementation process and the description of the work done;
• Questionnaires for the public to express their opinions on the reforms active in the period of an open session

The portal enables the user to:

• Express his/her opinion regarding the priority of the planned reforms;
• Bring up an initiative, which the general public will be able to support by voting after being admitted at the web page. In case of gaining a sufficient number of supporters (at least 3,000 likes), the initiated issue will be reviewed by the Economic Analysis and Reforms Department of the Ministry of Economy and Sustainable Development of Georgia.

Although both Functional Requirements are technically active, no initiatives for review have been brought to the portal in the reporting period. The likely reason for this could be the postponing of the planned activities for the promotion of the portal.

It is noteworthy that presently there are no mechanisms at the portal that could enable users to see the results of his/her co-participation in the formation of the economic policy or to understand the eligibility criteria used for evaluation of the proposed initiative.

According to the Secretariat’s assessment, the commitment is partially implemented within the Action Plan’s timeline. The portal’s content improvement has been finalized, although no public awareness-raising campaign of the portal has been implemented.