The main objective of this project was to analyze the predicted potential for Georgia to specialize in the production of various agricultural goods. APRC assisted the German Economic Team within this project with regards to: searching, collecting, and summarizing data, reviewing existing literature to study the potential of agricultural goods which have a relative comparative advantage compared to others. The empirical paper by the GET Georgia predicted the potential for Georgia to develop its specialization in 14 agricultural goods. Our analysis showed the relative comparative advantage of several goods and we grouped them into the following three categories: Fruit and Vegetable; Tobacco, Dairy products, Fish, and Sea Food. There are large investment needs, but also many potential benefits from higher value-added, processed products.
Since September 2014, the ISET Policy Institute has been working with the German Economic Team (GET). In May 2015 ISET-PI and GET extended their partnership and began working on a variety of policy briefs for Georgia's industrial development. These briefs will simultaneously advance research in the sector and provide the Georgian government a set of guidelines for the development of its own policy, exploring where Georgia's comparative advantages lie. The German Economic Team is a consulting group that provides advisory services to the Georgian government on economic policy and is supported by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy.