Meetings were held in the regions with the assistance of the Council on State Support to NGOs under the auspices of the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan to present Government- Civil Society Dialogue Platform on Open Government Initiative and to increase awareness on Azerbaijan Open Government Partnership.

Representatives of local state bodies, NGOs and other public representatives have participated in the events held in Lankaran, Sabirabad and Khachmaz. Coordinator of the platform, Alimammad Nuriyev, delivered information about the works done on ‘Implementation of the Open Government Initiative: Government-Civil Society Dialogue Platform on Open Government Initiative’ and the participation of the civil society in this field. A. Nuriyev stated that Open Government Initiative Platform was established with the participation of 31 NGOs and 10 state agencies. He provided information about the mission and activities of the Platform. He noted that the establishment of the platform will help to implement reforms stemming from the Open Government Partnership Initiative, to overcome possible difficulties in this regard, to increase public confidence on these reforms. At the same time, Open Government Partnership will assist to create an environment to achieve a wide perception of the audience about its ideas, objectives and reach more effective results in their implementation.

Nuriyev spoke about the results of the “Open Government Initiative National Action Plan for the years 2012-2015” and also talked about measure envisaged by the “Open Government Initiative National Action Plan for the years 2016-2018”, which was approved by the President order dated April 27, 2016. According to the coordinator of the platform active participation of the citizens is essential in the activities of the Open Government Initiative, because the target of these efforts is the involvement of citizens in decision-making processes, to make it easier for them to learn about the activities of state bodies, to ensure a higher level of accountability and transparency. The questions about the social, economic and legal topics were answered. It is planned to hold a similar event in Ganja and Shamkir.