A bright spot in Georgia's stormy sea of reforms

The Messenger

By Eka Basilaia

Private property ownership reform in Georgia, because of its relative efficiency and value, has proved to be one of the most successful in the world, a group of analysts who gathered in Tbilisi to review the country's property ownership laws stated last week.

A two-day international conference on "the institutional reform of protection of right of immovable property" was organized on May 10-11 by the National Agency of the Public Register of the Ministry of Justice of Georgia and was attended by professionals from 25 countries.

Immovable property - which is virtually synonymous with real estate - is generally considered to be land or any permanent feature or structure above or below the surface. Analysts reiterated that the aim of the reform is the development of property registering institutes, secure registration and recognition of property rights subject to legal registration, the improvement of services to make them transparent and customer-oriented, and ensuring accessibility of public registry information.

"This seminar discusses the institutional issues of immovable property we will also assess the developments in Georgia," Chairman of the National Agency of Public Registry of Georgian Ministry if Justice Davit Egiashvili stated at the conference, noting "we will try not only tell our guests what we have done so far, but also to get information and learn from the experience of international organizations."

Egiashvili said that according to a World Bank report this particular element of the reform of private ownership in Georgia - securing the safety of right of immovable property is regarded as the most successful in the world which was included among top ten reformers in property administration already in 2004. The reform has four directions - institutional, legislative, administrative and technological.

The conference was supported by the World Party on Land Administration of the United Nations Economic Commission of Europe (WPLA/UNECE.)

The WPLA, founded in 1999, has been actively involved in elaborating and amending the basic institutional framework of land administration (ensuring and securing the rights of ownership, legal establishment of the rights on the land), the activities connected with land administration (formation of immovable property, land registering, property evaluation), information systems of the land and organizational issues.

Egisahsvili said that the National Agency of Public Register was named as the most successful in registering immovable property by both the World Bank and International Financial Organization because of its newfound efficiency.

"I think that in our reality the correct implementation of state administration policy, like urban, agrarian, and economic policies, to a large extent depends on the efficient operation of the public registry," Chair of the parliamentary Judiciary committee Levan Bezhashvili told the journalists.

State Minister of Reforms Coordination Kakha Bendukidze also applauded the recent registration developments saying "there has been quite a big success in how properties are being registered and how these things are going."

Bendukidze noted that the successful reform of property rights is a prerequisite for "enhancing the country's economic stability."

"Ensuring and improving property rights are extremely important for long-lasting sustainable economic growth One of the pillars of Georgian reform is that we need to have private ownership in a wider sense of its meaning," Bendukidze stated at the conference.

International experts hailed the reforms and praised Georgia's efforts to follow up and utilize effectively the experience of qualified countries.

"Georgia has been going about this in a very good way. What I think is important for Georgia is that in its international relations it has been seeking useful information from other countries and to include those things they can use in its own system," Chairman of the WPLA/UNECE Peter Creuzer told The Messenger.