Nino Kakulia was born in Samtredia on 15 October 1991, in the last days of the Georgian Soviet Socialist Republic. By the time Nino and independent Georgia were celebrating their 13th birthdays, the Georgian government embarked on a series of long-overdue reforms, one of which was about cleansing the country’s higher education system from corruption.

Borjomi was the final stop and the highlight on a four-day anticorruption program ISET organized for students and faculty of its partner university, the Norwegian School of Economics (NHH) in Bergen. The tour was hosted by Borjomi LTD, producer of Georgia’s most famous mineral water – the “Coca Cola of the Soviet Union”, in the words of Jacques Fleury, the company’s former CEO.

We are excited to announce that this week ISET will be hosting a large delegation representing the Norwegian School of Economics in Bergen. A four-day program is planned to start on April 6, which includes anti-corruption seminars, public discussions, and site visits to relevant public institutions and businesses.

In the old times, particularly after major crises, humans always looked for someone whom they could hold responsible. Ancient societies had scapegoats (either animals or humans) that would be sacrificed after a disaster. People believed that the sacrifices purified the community and helped avoid the punishment of the gods.

There is a lot of affinity among Estonia and Georgia, two tiny nations for centuries caught between the Russian rock and the German or Ottoman/Persian hard place. Common fate may be, indeed, the reason for Georgia’s topping the list of Estonian development cooperation priorities. Georgia is the largest recipient of Estonia’s bilateral aid, most of which is about sharing the Estonian experience of establishing itself as a new European democracy and a unique place to do business.