A/HRC/44/43/Add.1 Group was informed that in February 2020, the Government reformed the Council into a national mechanism for reporting and follow-up4 to accelerate the pace of action. 12. The Human Rights Secretariat is currently taking the lead on the elaboration of the Human Rights Strategy for 2021–2030 and the subsequent Human Rights Action Plan for 2020–2022. It will be critical for the Government to amend the chapter on business and human rights in order to strengthen implementation and monitoring efforts, and to hold implementing State agencies accountable for progress made, including through indicators that are specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and time-bound. The equal and meaningful participation of all relevant stakeholders, including civil society, the Public Defender, business and trade unions, in these initiatives should be ensured from an early stage. This requires the creation of adequate institutional arrangements and informationsharing mechanisms. In addition, the Working Group is of the view that the Human Rights Secretariat and Human Rights Council of Georgia should assume a more proactive role in coordinating and monitoring implementation of the business and human rights chapter. 13. Moreover, the Working Group believes that the content of the chapter should be improved after 2020, so to capture fully all findings and recommendations of the baseline assessment and of the present report. The chapter should cover all three pillars of the Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights and ensure that its provisions also address the adverse human rights impacts of Georgian businesses operating abroad. More generally, it will be critical that business and human rights remain an integral part of the Human Rights Strategy for 2021–2030. The Government should also consider developing a comprehensive and stand-alone national action plan on business and human rights. 14. In that context, civil society organizations expressed concern about the lack of transparency, openness and meaningful participation in the process of developing the new Human Rights Strategy for 2021–2030 and the related Human Rights Action Plan for 2020–2022. The Working Group stresses the importance of translating the expressed political commitment towards an inclusive process into equal and meaningful participation of key stakeholders from an early stage, as a precondition for the effective development and implementation of these policy frameworks. IV. Human rights risks and impacts in specific sectors 15. A consistent theme in the meetings with government officials, businesses, civil society organizations and community members was the legacy of a decade of deregulation, and the need for a new approach compatible with the Sustainable Development Goals and human rights protection. 16. Notwithstanding the Government’s initiatives aimed at finding a sustainable path, national economic policy still remains focused on improving the ease of doing business and attracting investment, including through tax incentives and the creation of free industrial zones without appropriate regulations and incentives for companies to respect human rights. As the Working Group witnessed, a one-eyed focus on attracting investment risks undermining efforts to promote responsible business conduct, unless there is a robust legal and institutional framework in place to protect human rights. The importance of ensuring a level playing field and a reward system through effective regulations on responsible business conduct was also stressed by some businesses. 17. During the visit, the Working Group identified a number of recurrent themes and explored several emblematic cases, which illustrated challenges faced and pointed to ways forward to promoting business respect for human rights. 4 In line with the recommendations formulated in a report produced under the project “EU/UN Human Rights for All” (See Jeremy Sarkin, “Reinvigorating and transforming the role of the Human Rights Council (HRC) in Georgia into a National Mechanism for Reporting and Follow-up (NMRF) in line with global practice”, 14 January 2019.) 5