Measuring economic developments is often a laborious business. Consider, for example, the Consumer Price Index (CPI). One first has to define the so-called consumption basket that contains the goods and services whose prices you want to track. These goods and services have to be represented in the basket in the right proportions, reflecting the consumption patterns of an average consumer.

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.

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.

Recently, the Georgian authorities cracked down on Nigerian students who allegedly did not really study but used their student visas for getting access to the Georgian labor market. Yet their residence permits were withdrawn without proper verification that this suspicion was actually true.

Baku today is very different from the Baku of my high school years. I remember riding a tram to school. I also remember my high school sharing a building with a vocational school. Nowadays, you will find neither trams nor well-functioning vocational schools in Baku.