The Investor Council (IC), coordinated by the EBRD, has been established in 2015 to provide a dialog platform between Georgia’s major business associations and government. Co-chaired by Georgia’s PM Giorgi Kvirikashvili and EBRD Director for the South Caucasus, Belarus, and Moldova, Bruno Balvanera, IC’s February 17 meeting focused on three key issues:

- mechanisms for (sufficiently early) public disclosure and discussion of draft legislation;

- improvements in the tax administration system (e.g. the possibility to limit the Georgian Revenue Service’s ability to freeze business assets and accounts) and the impending introduction of the so-called Estonian model of corporate taxation;

- steps to increase the attractiveness of investing in Georgia (e.g. creating an effective system for investor after-care).

ISET’s President Eric Livny took part in the IC meeting in his capacity as head of the Economics Commission with the International Chamber of Commerce. He shared with IC members his ideas for a “Come Home” initiative to bring back to Georgia some of the entrepreneurial and technical talents that had left the country during the last several decades. According to Eric, such an initiative could greatly benefit from Israel’s experience in organizing and engaging the vast Jewish Diaspora. PM Kvirikashvili requested that this initiative be further developed in cooperation with the State Ministry of Diaspora Issues.