Since 2012, when the political party Georgian Dream took leadership of the country’s governance, economic [real] growth reached its highest rate in 2017 (5.0%). The drivers of this growth were construction (11.2%), hotels and restaurants (11.2%), and the financial sector (9.2%). However, a few sectors of the economy declined in 2017, and one was agriculture (-2.7%).

The ISET Policy Institute presented to stakeholders the Regulatory Impact Assessment of the Draft Law of Georgia on Entrepreneurs at ISET on May 2. The project was prepared by the ISET Policy Institute with the support of GIZ and PROLoG/USAID.

The Georgian government is currently facing some tremendous challenges in adjusting to the EU Association Agreement (AA). A particularly problematic area of reform concerns the implementation of Directive 2000/60/EC, aka the European Water Framework Directive (WFD). Properly managing water resources is an extremely difficult endeavor that requires a deep understanding of all the mechanisms at work.

Blockchain technology became a huge story last year due to the hype over cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin and Etherium. Banks and other financial institutions are rushing to adopt blockchain technology. Nowadays, about 15% of financial institutions use blockchain technology to secure and validate transactions. IBM was one of the first companies that saw the potential of blockchain use and encouraged startups related to the concept.

On February 23, ISET Policy Institute (ISET-PI) hosted a final dissemination event under the “Strengthening Entrepreneurial Training in the Formal TVET System” project, implemented within the small grants scheme of the Millennium Challenge Account – Georgia, and funded by the US Millennium Challenge Corporation.