THE GERMAN SOCIETY FOR INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION (GIZ)

Over the past decade, The German Society for International Cooperation (GIZ) actively cooperates with the south Caucasus region and especially with Georgia. Strengthening Parliamentary control and in this regard cooperation with the Parliament and in particular, with the Budget and Finance Committee and the Parliamentary Budget Office is regarded as one of the most important direction.
Within the program "Public Finance Management in South Caucasus" cooperation between the Parliament and GIZ gradually extended and covered the following areas:
• Parliamentary Budget Office reform and its establishment as an independent institution – with GIZ's active support regulatory legislative base of the Budget Office improved and came in compliance with the international standards. The Parliamentary Budget Office established as an independent structural unit and significantly approximated to the basic principles declared for the independent fiscal institutions by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).
• The role of the Budget Office, as an independent fiscal institution, both in local and international fiscal architecture – GIZ actively supports the establishment of the Budget Office both in local and international fiscal architecture.
Within the program "Public Finance Management in South Caucasus" in order to exchange experiences among different countries' fiscal institutions for promotion fiscal sustainability the Budget Office took part in the 7th annual meeting of OECD parliamentary budget offices and independent fiscal institutions. Meetings were held in the US Congress and Congressional Budget Office.
At the local level, to strengthen Parliamentary oversight on public finance management, GIZ aims to support close cooperation between the Parliamentary Budget Office and the State Audit Office and deepen similar cooperation and establishment of effective communication mechanism; also to share information and opinions about the main directions of institutions' activities, which in turn will ensure the independence of the institutions involved in budget processes, strengthening national oversight mechanism, establishment of opportunities for strong Parliamentary control.
• Strengthening institutional capacity of the Parliamentary Budget Office in order to comply with the international best practices – in order to lead the Budget Office's activities in compliance with the internationally accepted practice GIZ applies effective instruments like: subject content consultations with local and international participant experts, training and qualification raising activities, accompaniment of practice and support to implement new approaches and methods, using the integrated experts.