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On June 14, 2024, Ani Kintsurashvili, Senior Researcher at Civic IDEA, participated as a speaker in the RISS conference titled “Impact of the War in Ukraine on Russia-China Power Dynamics in Central Asia,” held at the Sheraton Grand Hotel Tbilisi Metekhi Palace. The conference explored how Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has reduced Moscow’s influence in Central Asia, leading regional states to seek new security partners and prompting increased economic presence and rivalry from China.

The conference was part of the ‘Impact of the War in Ukraine on Russia-China Power Dynamics in Central Asia’ project which is conducted by the Regional Institute of Security Studies (RISS), with support from the Russian Strategic Initiative (RSI).

Ms. Kintsurashvili provided a broader analysis of the evolving China-Russia relationship since the onset of the Ukraine war and its implications for Central Asian countries.

On March 29, 2024, Tinatin Khidasheli, chairperson of the Tbilisi-based NGO Civic Initiative for Democratic and Euro-Atlantic Choice (Civic IDEA), joined Christopher Walker, vice president for studies and analysis at the National Endowment for Democracy, to discuss laws and narratives that ostensibly combat “foreign influence” but, in practice, have the effect of restricting fundamental freedoms and civic space. They unpack how Georgian society mobilized in 2023 to resist the adoption of the restrictive law and what lessons this holds for those who want to push back against weaponized narratives and restrictive foreign influence laws elsewhere. 

Link 👇

Lessons Learned from Georgian Civil Society’s Response to a Repressive “Foreign Agents” Law: A Conversation with Tinatin Khidasheli

Tina Khidasheli, who served as Georgian defence minister in a Georgian Dream-led government in 2015-2016, attended Tuesday’s protest against her former government colleagues and said she expected the demonstrators to win eventually.

“The government is just prolonging the inevitable. We might have serious problems, but at the end of the day, the people will go home with victory,” she told Reuters.

Link 👉 https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/georgian-parliament-vote-foreign-agent-bill-second-reading-2024-04-30

On February 8, 2024, the chairperson of “Civic IDEA” – Tinatin Khidasheli participated in the annual international conference of the Institute for the Development of Freedom of Information (IDFI) – Good Governance Forum 2024.

Within the framework of the forum, discussions were held on the following issues: fight against corruption: institutional reforms, comprehensive approaches and political will; Prevention of organized crime and combating money laundering; public administration reform; gender mainstreaming of good governance reforms; Innovative mechanisms for fighting corruption and improving competition: innovations in public procurement and transparency standards for beneficial owners; Open Government Partnership (OGP) initiative, etc.
Tinatin Khidasheli moderated the following panel – Fighting Corruption: Institutional Reforms, Holistic Measures and Political Will.

Panelists:

• Ms. Rusudan Mikheladze – Head of the Monitoring Programme, Anti-corruption Network at OECD
• Ms. Sarah Rupert –  Director, International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs (INL), U.S. Embassy, Tbilisi, Georgia
• Mr. Nicholas Aiossa –  Director, Transparency International EU
• Mr. Gizo Uglava – First Deputy Director of the National Anti-corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU)
• Ms. Tatiana Khutor –  Chairwoman, Institute of Legislative Ideas, Ukraine
• Ms. Eka Gigauri – Executive Director, Transparency International Georgia/TI Global Secretariat/OGP Steering Committee Member

Moderator – Ms. Tinatin Khidasheli, Chairperson, Civic IDEA

The panel discussion is available at: 👇