In the early 1980s, Soviet engineers drove a prospection tunnel into Sakdrissi hillock close to the small town of Kazreti, about 50 kilometers south of Tbilisi. Much to their surprise, they discovered that the hillock already bore a labyrinth of tunnels, and, as quickly became clear, these tunnels were manmade.

ISET-PI collaborated with the Asian Development Bank (ADB) on a three-day training workshop (2-4 September) to review the best international practices in measuring and monitoring the soundness of a country's financial sector. The event brought together NBG and GeoStat officials together with ISET researchers to facilitate improvements in the Georgian system of financial soundness indicators.

ISET-PI was contracted by Diplomat Georgia, a leading distribution company, to conduct a series of training in advanced spreadsheet analysis for back-office staff who had a basic familiarity with the main MS Excel functionalities. The course was designed to provide technical solutions and skills to perform day-to-day analytical tasks, extract relevant data, produce tables, reports, and charts.

The ISET Policy Institute collaborated with the Association of Young Professionals in the Energy Sector of Georgia (AYPEG) on a training course targeting junior staff of the newly created Analytical Department within the Ministry of Energy of Georgia, Electricity Sector Commercial Operator (ESCO), and Georgian State Electro system (GSE). A total of 17 participants from these three organizations participated in the course.

On Monday evening I am taking the express train from Tbilisi to Samtredia with my wife and two kids (business class, 120GEL). We plan to stay overnight in a little family hotel (40GEL), and at 6.30 am we’ll board the Wizz Air flight to Katowice, Poland, at the cost of €40 a person and €35 per suitcase (one way).