The Memorandum of Cooperation between the Sector Economy and Economic Policy Committee of the Parliament of Georgia and the Georgian Internet Governance Forum (GeoIGF) was signed on 30 November 2021 in Tbilisi, Georgia. The ceremony of the signature of the Memorandum of Cooperation took place at the 7th Georgian Internet Governance Forum 2021 (GeoIGF 2021) held in hybrid format at Georgia’s Technopark.

GeoIGF is the internet forum in Georgia, which gathers 35 organisations each representing public, private, civil society and academic sectors. The mission of the forum is to facilitate inclusive decision-making in the field of internet through multistakeholder dialogue, communication and coordination. Previously, the Georgian Parliament, specifically, the Sector Economy and Economic Policy Committee, which is responsible for processing legislative acts in the field of internet, was not the member of the GeoIGF, hence not actively involved in the multistakeholder dialogue. In this context, The Memorandum of Cooperation between these two parties is the milestone in the field of internet governance in Georgia.

Key points of the Memorandum of Cooperation are:
-    Sector Economy and Economic Policy Committee becomes the 36th member of in the GeoIGF enabling its participation of the Committee representatives in the work of the forum;
-    The GeoIGF facilitates active engagement of the Sector Economy and Economic Policy Committee into the global, European and regional internet governance forums;
-    The conclusions of the multistakeholder discussions hosted by the forum are taken into consideration during decision-making process at the Sector Economy and Economic Policy Committee;
-    The GeoIGF becomes additional platform for the Sector Economy and Economic Policy Committee to discuss internet-related issues enabling the legislators to have better understanding of concerns and needs of the stakeholders in the field of internet.

The cooperation already started with the representative of the Sector Economy and Economic Policy Committee participating at the panel discussion during the annual conference of the GeoIGF held on 30 November and 1 December 2021.

The parties agreed on the follow-up cooperation.

The signature of the Memorandum of Cooperation was facilitated within the framework of the Council of Europe Project  “Strengthening Media Freedom, Internet Governance and Personal Data Protection in Georgia” - SMIP-GE.