On 5 June 2015, at a meeting with the diplomatic corps, foreign business associations, consulting companies and representatives of international organisations, the Prime Minister of Georgia, Irakli Gharibashvili, spoke about taking the Georgian National Investment Agency from the Partnership Fund and putting it under the subordination of the Government of Georgia. The Prime Minister also presented the results of the research conducted by international organisations. According to Mr Gharibashvili’s statement, the Government of Georgia is one of the most transparent governments, not only in the region but throughout Europe, as well.

FactCheck

took interest in the Prime Minister’s statement.

The World Justice Project publishes the annual Rule of Law Index. This research shows the state of the rule of law in 102 of the world’s nations. The project uses 47 indicators which are categorised under nine major factors:

absence of corruption, open governance, limited government, fundamental rights, law and order, enforcement (law/decision), level of crime, and criminal and administrative justice. The Rule of Law Index is prepared through the analysis of 102 countries, more than 100,000 citizens and 2,400 expert surveys.

According to the index, Georgia has the highest indicator for the absence of corruption. The country has 0.73 points and ranks 22^nd worldwide (page 25). The open governance indicator is also high and Georgia is 29^th in the ranking. According to this open governance indicator, Georgia is number-one throughout Eastern Europe and Central Asia and lags only behind 17 EU countries (page 26). In regard to the protection of fundamental rights, our country is in the 38^th position (page 27) whilst it ranks 24^th in law and order (page 28), 25^th in enforcement (page 29) and 26^th (page 30) and 35^th (

page 31) in criminal and administrative justice, respectively.

Based upon the research of the World Justice Project, Georgia boasts the highest indicators for the absence of corruption (0.73) and for order and security (0.83). According to the Rule of Law Index, Georgia’s lowest indicator is for criminal justice (0.53).

Consequently, Georgia holds the 29^th

place among the 102 countries and with that indicator it is a leader both in the Eastern European and Central Asian regions.

Conclusion The World Justice Project’s Rule of Law Index, which assesses the state of the rule of law in 102 countries based upon nine principal factors, has Georgia in the 29^th position. With that result, our country is ahead of all of the Eastern European and Central Asian states. One of the factors of the research is the open governance indicator in which Georgia ranks 29^th

and shows the best result both in Eastern Europe and Central Asia. It must be noted that with this indicator, Georgia lags only behind 17 EU member states in the European region.

Therefore, FactCheck concludes that the Prime Minister’s statement is TRUE.