The expert meeting will be organised within the framework of the Panel on Public Administration Reform under Eastern Partnership platform 1 on "Democracy, Good Governance and Stability".

The theme of the meeting is boosting the administrative capacity of regional and local governments in the Eastern Partnership countries: effective mechanism for consultations and negotiations between the national government and local and regional governments.Speakers from the EU Member States will present an overview of the negotiation and consultation mechanisms in Western and Eastern Europe and methods on how to formulate common local and regional government policy. The experts at the meeting will discuss the role of negotiation and consultation in developing new policy documents and corresponding draft legislation, as well as cooperation with local and regional government associations and employees' and employers’ organisations in building common policy in order to influence ongoing fiscal and administrative decentralisation reforms.

The participants at the meeting will include representatives from the six Eastern Partnership countries and speakers from the EU Member States.