26 civil servants and civil society representatives from six Eastern Partnership countries (Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova, Ukraine) will participate at the event which is co-organised by the City of Tbilisi.

In the beginning of 2012, the Czech Republic took over the leadership on the local/regional level of Public Administration Reform in the framework of Eastern Partnership. By organising a thematic seminar in Tbilisi, the Czech Republic will follow up on successful events in Prague in 2010 and Kharkov, Ukraine, in 2011 as well as on its long term transition cooperation activities.

In accordance with the Conceptual Basis of the Czech Foreign Policy, the seminar should contribute to an approximation of the Eastern Partnership countries and their citizens with the EU and among each other, as well as to promoting the rule of law, political pluralism, human rights and building transparent institutions, acting for the benefit of citizens. Experts from Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Italy, Lithuania, Malta, Poland and Spain will be among the lecturers.

The seminar is focused on sharing the experience between experts from the Czech Republic and other EU Member States and their colleagues from the Partner countries, as regards decentralisation of state functions and financial autonomy of local and regional governments as preconditions to an effective public administration, as well as e-governance, fight against corruption, countering disparities in regional development and creating local democracy.