The Council of Europe in cooperation with the Ministry of Justice of Georgia (MOJ) organised a two-day online workshop on “Corruption Prevention in the Public Sector”. The activity intended to support the national authorities during the transitional period of moving the Anti-Corruption Council Secretariat from the MOJ Analytical Department to the Administration of Government of Georgia.  

The activity focused on two main priority areas of prevention of corruption such as conflict of interest and corruption risk assessment. Participants included not only experienced but also recently recruited staff of the Ministry of Justice and the representatives from the Government Administration. During the first day of the meeting participants benefited from interactive presentations and discussion on recognising actual, apparent and potential conflict of interest, methods for its management, main options for conducting effective monitoring and oversight. Training also created a good platform for participants to discuss challenges and further development possibilities for the Georgian legislation and institutional framework on Conflict of Interest.

The second part of the workshop has been dedicated to the assessment of corruption risks in the public sector. In 2019 the Anti-Corruption Council of Georgia approved the first Corruption Risk Assessment Methodology that is designed for the Georgian state institutions to identify risks and risk factors. As the document has not been used in practice yet, the MOJ addressed the CoE with the request to share the experience of other countries on its successful implementation in practice. Consequently, during the second day of the workshop participants discussed basics concepts and principles of   risk assessment, relevant best practices, and the challenges in its implementation. The discussion was completed by practical exercises and the breakout sessions that enabled project beneficiaries to discuss within the small groups specific questions related to the corruption risk assessment process and to share with the audience the outcomes of the discussions.