On 19 May, ISET Policy Institute, with support and participation from the Swedish Embassy, met representatives from local non-governmental and international organizations, and from the Batumi public and private sector, in order to introduce its activities and key products.

The welcome address was delivered by Mr. Eric Illes from the Swedish Embassy and ISET’s Tamar Sulukhia. ISET representatives thereafter spoke about the importance of evidence-based research, mechanisms, and tools in policymaking.

Yasya Babych, ISET’s Lead Economist, went on to discuss the challenges facing the Georgian economy during the post-pandemic period, especially in the light of the ongoing war in Ukraine.

During the latter part of the conference, Davit Keshelava from the research team introduced a recent ISET development – the Gender Equality Index (GEI), which measures progress toward gender equality within 12 former soviet countries, including the three countries of the South Caucasus: Georgia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan.

Davit Keshelava’s review was followed by a presentation on the ReforMeter, led by ISET’s Ana Burduli – the ReforMeter is a platform for assessing economic reforms, supported by the USAID Economic Governance Program. During her overview, Ana discussed the project’s target reforms, each of which is assessed, reported, and published by the ReforMeter team.

This special event concluded with a Q&A and a discussion where participants emphasized ISET's current projects and research activities, as well as all potential partnerships in the future.