Betsy’s Hotel is an establishment accustomed to hosting a wide variety of patrons from across the world. However, the gathering of mid-level and senior representatives from public, private and non-profit organizations to be awarded certificates for completing a course funded by Japan Tobacco International Georgia and run by the ISET Policy Institute is certainly unique even for a hotel with such a habitually diverse clientele.
The relevance of agriculture in formal employment dropped in many European, Central, and East Asian countries over the previous decades. The mutually reinforcing and interdependent processes of development outside the agricultural sector, along with significant urbanization, have resulted in new dynamics and diversity in the rural labor landscape. Remittances, as the link between urban and international migrants and their original households, have gained importance in sustaining rural livelihoods, especially in poorer countries and regions.
Between June 9-10, Mr. Labadze attended the 4th Asia Think Tank Summit in Seoul, an event jointly organized by the Institute of Foreign Affairs and National Security (IFANS) at the Korea National Diplomatic Academy (KNDA), the Korea Development Institute (KDI), the Korea Institute for International Economic Policy (KIEP), the Civil Society Program (TTCSP) of the University of Pennsylvania, and the Asia Development Bank Institute (ADBI).
ISET PI became a member of the Georgian Alliance on Agricultural and Rural Development (GAARD) on June 9th. The GAARD was established in 2014 and includes people from the Ministry of Agriculture, academic institutions, non-governmental organizations, and independent experts.
On June 3 2016, a Round Table Discussion of Tea Cooperatives was held in Kutaisi. This was the third event in a series of dialogues about agriculture and rural development in Georgia organized by ISET Policy Institute (ISET-PI) in partnership with CARE International, the Regional Development Association and the Georgian Farmers Association, with support from the European Neighbourhood Programme for Agriculture and Rural Development (ENPARD).