The Communications Commission, with the support of the European Commission, organised the 22^nd plenary meeting of the Eastern Partnership Electronic Communications Regulators' Network (EaPeReg) in Georgia to summarise the activities of EaPeReg and its expert groups during the past year, as well as to elect the EaPeReg Chair and Vice-Chair for 2004. 

The meeting began with an opening speech by ComCom member and EaPeReg Chair Ekaterine Imedadze, who talked about the projects implemented by the Commission for the purpose of approximation of Georgia’s electronic communications regulatory framework with the relevant EU policy and framework. She also emphasised the importance of Georgia’s integration into the EU single digital market. At the start of the session, participants were also addressed by the Chairman of the Irish Commission for Communications Regulation (ComReg) and current EaPeReg Vice-Chairman Robert Mourik, who highlighted the importance of cooperation and approximation between the EU and Eastern Partnership countries for the development of business, technology, and the digital sector as a whole. The opening part of the event also included a speech by the Head of Cooperation at the EU Delegation to Georgia, Nicholas Cendrowicz: “I am happy to see this meeting hosted by the Communications Commission in Tbilisi. Following the EC recommendation to afford Georgia EU membership candidate status, ComCom’s responsibilities and the importance of its activities have increased even further.” 

The opening part was followed by the first session, which served to provide an overview of activities of the EaPeReg expert groups. EU4Digital’s Telecom Rules Programme Leader Andrejs Dombrovskis, Chair of the Spectrum EWG Roman Kurdadze, Chair of Independence of Regulators and Broadband EWG Inga Popovici and Chair of the Roaming EWG Zaruhi Stepanyan reviewed and assessed the activities and projects implemented in 2023. 

The following session included a speech by ComCom IR Service representative Mzia Gogilashvili, who talked about the activities, initiatives, performance and progress achieved by the EaPeReg leadership. European Commission representative Istvan Bak introduced EC’s latest planning rules and procedures for EaPeReg activities. The session was concluded by BEREC Office Director Laszlo Igneczi, Head of ITU Office for Europe Jaroslaw Ponder, EMREG Co-Vice Chairman Petros Galides and Director General of the International Institute of Communications Lynn Robinson discussing the prospects of closer cooperation with EaPeReg. 

Within the framework of the event, participants also elected the Moldovan regulator (ANRCETI) and the Romanian regulator (ANCOM) as the 2024 EaPeReg Chair and Vice-Chair, respectively. Afterwards, ANERCET and ANCOM representatives discussed the network’s working plan and objectives for 2024. 

The 22^nd EaPeReg plenary meeting was concluded by summary speeches by the 2023 EaPeReg Chair Ekaterine Imedadze, ComReg Chairman and EaPeReg Vice-Chairman Robert Mourick and European Commission representative Vassilis Kopanas.