Regulations in the energy sector are there in order to ensure improvements in efficiency and service quality. They are essential because many actors in the energy sector of any country are state companies and/or natural monopolies for which efficiency and quality of service are somewhat foreign concepts.

The radicalization of Islam and the Russian-Turkish spat affect the security of the South Caucasus energy supply corridor and shed new light on the prospects of Russian-Georgian economic relations. The challenges and opportunities related to the new security threats were the main topics of discussion at a forum organized by the Caucasian House.

Supported by Norway’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, ISET’s collaboration with the Norwegian School of Economics (Norges Handelshøyskole – NHH) started more than four years ago with regular faculty visits by some of the most senior NHH scholars, professors Einar Hope and Rognvaldur Hannesson. The main goal of the new 3-year phase, to be financed by the Norwegian Centre for International Cooperation in Education (Senter for internasjonalisering av utdanning (SIU)), is to develop a dual degree program in energy and environmental economics.

Georgia is consistently performing very well in the World Bank’s “Doing Business” (DB) ranking 24th country globally in 2016: DB ranking is made up of several different indicators. Georgia only ranked 62nd for getting electricity (GE). GE indicator is a proxy for electricity supply quality to the business.

2016 marked 20 years of BP’s successful partnership with Georgia, elevating the country’s role in the global economy and helping its economy and civil society. (We should note that BP has been instrumental in the creation of ISET. It was a key member of the initial donor consortium behind ISET with a core contribution of more than $2.3mln.) To celebrate this remarkable milestone, ISET hosted Mr. Chris Schlueter, Head of BP’s Georgian Section.