Minister of Justice, Rati Bregadze thanked Ambassador of the Kingdom of Sweden, Ulrik Tiddestrom for supporting Georgia's territorial integrity and Euro-Atlantic aspirations.

At the meeting held at the Ministry of Justice, Rati Bregadze spoke about specific directions for deepening cooperation between the Ministries of Justice of Georgia and Sweden.

One of the priorities of the Ministry of Justice of Georgia is the harmonization of Georgian legislation with EU law. To support the process, a special electronic program has been developed and will be launched in the near future, which will ensure a quick and high-quality implementation of the harmonization process. Rati Bregadze expressed an initiative to deepen cooperation with Sweden in this direction.

Another area of strengthening partnership will be bilateral legal relations. For this purpose, Rati Bregadze proposed to Ulrik Tideström to establish an annual Georgian-Swedish legal forum.

Georgia is ready to share Sweden's experience in the direction of penitentiary system reforms as well, which will create more opportunities for the rehabilitation and re-socialization of prisoners, support for activities outside the cell, and strengthening access to health care.

On October 24-25, 2022, a ministerial meeting of the countries participating in the Prague Process was held in the Czech Republic, within which the ministerial declaration and the action plan for its implementation for 2023-2027 were approved.

The Georgian delegation led by First Deputy Minister of Justice, Tamar Tkeshelashvili took part in the ministerial conference and spoke at the event about the reforms implemented by Georgia in the field of migration and the issues envisioned by the ministerial declaration. She also emphasized the importance of cooperation between countries in the area of migration management, which will be further strengthened after the adoption of the declaration.

The Georgian delegation also included Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs, Aleksandre Darakhvelidze and representatives of the Ministries of Justice and Internal Affairs of Georgia.

The declaration and the action plan were developed as a result of the joint work of the countries participating in the Prague Process (including Georgia) and the European Union.

The ministerial declaration and action plan cover such issues as: preventing and combating illegal migration; readmission, voluntary return and sustainable reintegration; legal migration, with special emphasis on labor migration; integration; mobility and development; international protection.

Within the framework of the ministerial, the declaration and the action plan were adopted by the European Union and the countries participating in the Process. By adopting the document, action priorities for the next five years in the region have been determined.

The new Public Service Hall will offer up to 470 services of various public agencies and the private sector to several thousand citizens living in the village of Supsa of Lanchkhuti Municipality and its surrounding villages.

Justice Minister, Rati Bregadze opened the Public Service Hall in Supsa today together with Deputy Minister, Erekle Gvinianidze and State Trustee to Guria Region, Giorgi Urushadze. The Minister met the employees, got acquainted with the work process and received information about the needs of customers.

Equal access to state services for citizens is one of the priority directions of the Ministry of Justice, which is currently provided by 117 Public Service Halls across the country.

Construction of branches is underway in Zestaponi, Terjola, Samtredia, Khashuri and Akhmeta; While, in Mtskheta and Sagarejo, design and pre-design preparatory works have already started.

The event was attended by local government representatives and invited guests.

At the meeting held at the Justice Ministry, the Minister spoke about the progress in the relations between the Ministries of Justice of Georgia and Israel.

Cooperation between the Ministries of Justice of the two countries was especially strengthened after the signing of the joint declaration, which was signed in September of this year by Rati Bregadze and the Vice Prime Minister and Minister of Justice of Israel, Gideon Saar. The declaration is a continuation of the memorandum signed between the parties in Tel Aviv in October 2021 and provides for cooperation in such areas as: access to public services, business and land registration, notary services, electronic apostille and others.

As the Minister noted at the meeting, quick and effective realization of the issues envisaged within the framework of cooperation with the Ministry of Justice of Israel is a priority for the Ministry of Justice of Georgia. The seminar planned in December between the employees of the Ministry of Justice of Israel and Georgia represents the practical implementation of the existing cooperation between the two countries.

The Minister of Justice expressed hope that the sectoral relations between Israel and Georgia will become even more intensive with the joint efforts of the parties.

Deputy Minister of Justice, Beka Dzamashvili also attended the meeting with the Israeli Ambassador.

At the end, Rati Bregadze together with his Czech counterpart discussed the initiative of creating a Georgia-Czech legal forum, which will be hosted alternately by Tbilisi and Prague every year.

A joint declaration was signed today between the Ministries of Justice of Georgia and the Czech Republic.

The cooperation between the ministries of justice of Georgia and the Czech Republic, which started within the framework of the ministerial meeting organized by the Council of the European Union in Prague, continued today with the signing of a joint declaration. The Georgian Minister of Justice met today with the delegation of the Czech Ministry of Justice. The cooperation document was signed by Rati Bregadze and his Czech colleague, Pavel Blažek.

The document includes cooperation in the field of justice reform and support for digital governance; as well as: promoting the process of convergence with the EU legislation; effective management of penitentiary, probation and crime prevention systems; and strengthening legal mutual assistance and other directions.

Rati Bregadze noted that it is important for the Ministry of Justice to establish bilateral relations with partners in such priority directions as: strengthening approaches based on the protection of human rights, continuing reforms in the system of the Ministry of Justice, digitalization of state services, increasing accessibility and progress of electronic governance.

The Minister of Justice thanked his Czech counterpart for his continuous support for the process of Georgia's integration into the European Union and its territorial integrity. According to him, the strengthening of institutional cooperation between the two countries, including in the process of approximation of the legislation of Georgia with the legislation of the European Union, is very important.

The parties also talked about both European integration and deepening of bilateral relations. "Today, we continued to discuss how Georgia meets the Copenhagen criteria, after which the country will receive the status of a candidate for the EU member state. It can be said that Georgia is making every effort to fulfill these conditions. Accordingly, I will inform the European Commissioner about these steps forward. I also had the opportunity to visit the Rustavi penitentiary facility, where I was convinced that the Georgian penitentiary system meets the standards of the European Union," said Pavel Blažek.

At the end, Rati Bregadze together with his Czech counterpart discussed the initiative of creating a Georgia-Czech legal forum, which will be hosted alternately by Tbilisi and Prague every year.

The Ministry of Justice announces another grant competition. The priority areas of the program are:

• promoting the introduction of innovative services in the system of the Ministry;

• Strengthening the protection of human rights;

• Strengthening legal security.

Non-entrepreneurial (non-commercial) legal entities and individuals are eligible to participate in the grant competition. The amount intended for the program is 500,000 GEL, and the maximum amount of funding for each winning project is 20,000 GEL.
Submission of applications has started today. The deadline for receiving documents is November 10, 2022.

The Ministry of Justice announced the grant competition last year, within the framework of which 14 projects were implemented.

The purpose of the grant programs is to promote the participation of civil society in the activities of the Ministry of Justice system and to support civil initiatives.

The grant applications and relevant documents can be received, taking into account the specified deadlines, only electronically to the following e-mail address: grant@justice.gov.ge

The most important monument of Georgian culture, the palimpsest gospel of the 9th-10th centuries, was brought to Tbilisi today in agreement with the Mestia municipality's mayor's office and Etseri community representatives. Deputy Minister of Justice, Buba Lomuashvili, Minister of Culture, Sports and Youth, Thea Tsulukiani, Director of the National Archives, Teona Iashvili, representatives of local authorities attended the transportation process.

The unique manuscript will remain in the National Archives for restoration work for 18 months, after which the fully restored four chapters will be returned to the Etseri community. The restoration plan will be determined after evaluating the degree of damage to the manuscript.

The restorers of the National Archive Document Restoration and Microfilming Laboratory will perform the restoration with full guidance of the technological process in accordance with international standards, which will increase the quality of protection of the unique document and the duration of its further storage.

The Kurashi Gospel is the second manuscript preserved in Svaneti, which will undergo the restoration process in the laboratory of the National Archives. In 2021, the restoration works of the 12th century Lakhamuli Gospel were carried out in the Archives. The possibility of working on unique manuscripts is determined by the modern equipment of the laboratory, corresponding to the European standard, and the high professionalism of the restorers.

Minister of Justice, Rati Bregadze held an introductory meeting today with Hungarian Ambassador, Anna Maria Shikos. The conversation touched upon the deepening of sectoral cooperation between the Ministries of Justice of Georgia and Hungary. The Minister proposed to the Hungarian ambassador to strengthen the partnership in the direction of legal cooperation in civil matters. Rati Bregadze expressed his readiness to host his Hungarian counterpart in Georgia so that the Justice Ministers of the two countries could sign a bilateral agreement on mutual legal assistance in civil matters. Rati Bregadze noted that the agreement will further deepen partnership relations between Georgia and Hungary and will be a logical continuation of the cooperation on which the two countries' Justice Ministers agreed within the framework of the memorandum of understanding signed in December last year.

At the meeting, the parties discussed the expert assistance of the Hungarian side in the issues of convergence of Georgian legislation with EU law; as well as exchange programs for employees of the Ministry of Justice of the two countries, and the prospects of holding a Hungarian-Georgian legal forum in Georgia.

Deputy Minister of Justice, Beka Dzamashvili also attended the meeting with the Hungarian ambassador.