16
October
2015
October 16 is celebrated around the globe as World Food Day. On this day, volunteers from all countries step forward to inspire commitment towards ending hunger worldwide. In response to WFD’s official motto “when it comes to hunger, the only acceptable number in the world is zero”, researchers from ISET Policy Institute donated food items to Catharsis Georgia – a charitable organization that, among other services, feeds 310 elderly in need every day.
15
October
2015
Speaking at the opening of the Tbilisi Silk Road Forum, Georgia’s new Minister of Foreign Affairs Giorgi Kvirikashvili evoked electric circuitry as a metaphor to describe the future of rail and road connections between Europe and Asia. A graduate of the prestigious math and physics Komarov School, Kvirikashvili explained that a sequential circuit – a simple chain – crucially depends on each and every one of its links.
14
October
2015
The report "Financial Soundness Indicators for Sector Stability in Georgia" provides an overview of the health of the Georgian financial sector and the key challenges it faces. Over the medium term, to increase domestic savings, reduce borrowing cost, and improve the credit risk, the report recommends facilitating property registration, improving the credit information-sharing mechanism, ensuring the security of bank deposits, and legislating improvements in reporting standards for firms.
12
October
2015
On October 9, Agricultural Policy Research Center organized an excursion to Phoka Nunnery of St. Nino, in the Javakheti region of Georgia. The Javakheti highland is a mountainous terrain at an altitude of 2000 m above sea level and home to the ominous Abul Mountain (3301 m) which can be seen from every side. Students from both ISET and researchers ISET-PI joined the excursion.
12
October
2015
This week we use the Khachapuri Index to look at Georgia’s broader economic geography. We do so on the basis of price data for more than 100 products from each and every Georgian municipality, which were collected by the Georgian government with assistance from ISET and EU’s European Neighborhood Program for Agriculture and Rural Development (ENPARD).
