Over the past 30 years, Georgia went through a remarkable roller-coaster transition from being one of the best performing USSR republics to a failed state to the top reformer on the post-Soviet space and thus demonstrating that change is possible. Georgia’s experience of fast-track development and modernization through international cooperation, radical deregulation, and trade liberalization carry important lessons learned for policymakers in other transition and developing nations.

On June 7, during his visit to Georgia, Mr. Anthony De Lannoy, the Executive Director of the IMF who represents Georgia along with the other 15 countries at the IMF Board of Directors, addressed an audience of ISET researchers, students, and management, as well as senior representatives of the National Bank of Georgia, with an overview of the IMF and its cooperation with Georgia.

On Sunday, April 23, the Agricultural Policy Research Center (APRC) of the ISET Policy Institute was invited to participate in an information fair, the “US-Georgia Friendship Fair”, dedicated to the celebration of the 25th anniversary of U.S. – Georgian diplomatic relations, organized by the Embassy of the United States to Georgia. ISET's representatives showcased the successful cooperation between the ISET Policy Institute and USAID.

The project “Meet the Meat Demand” is a cooperation between the Ministry of Agriculture MOA of Georgia and the French Livestock Institute, financed by the French Ministry of Economy through the FASEP program. The aim of the study is to assess the possibilities for development of beef production in Georgia.

The above quote seems to fit the state of affairs in the European Union fairly well, as the EU’s crisis is continuing, getting deeper, and engulfing more actors than when it started. To name a few well-known events and stats: Greece probably had the first meaningful kick-off in the chain of developments when it faced threats to stability in its own financial system at the end of 2009. At that time, an unreported estimated deficit jumped from 7% of GDP to the first 13%, and then stabilized at 15% as the "new normal."