Tbilisi. The Coalition for Independent and Transparent Justice organized the forum on July 6 concerning the promotion of democratic and transparent court administration. Stephen Haykin, the Mission Director for Georgia of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) has opened the forum. Tamar Chugoshvili, Chairwoman of the Georgian Young Lawyers' Association, has presented to the audience the recommendations on strengthening of the judges' self-government and individual judges.

In addition, presented at the forum was the report drafted by the Coalition, which discusses the issues affecting the pending court reforms. Transparency of the court system is among the most acute problems - the existing rule of photo, video and audio recording at the court sessions, in the opinion of the report's authors, does not meet the transparency requirements. Further, the report emphasizes the importance of increased role of the judges' self-government in the judicial administration process, strengthening of individual judges, etc.

Chairman of the Supreme Court of Georgia Konstantine Kublashvili, Secretary of the High Council of Justice of Georgia, Chairman of the Tbilisi Appellate Court Valeri Tsertsvadze, as well as NGOs and experts working in the field have attended the forum. The forum aims to widen the dialogue between the authorities and the civil society. This meeting was the fifth event from the forums organized by the Coalition.