On October 2nd, ISET was visited by representatives of FMO, the Dutch Entrepreneurial Bank, who came to talk about the Bank’s activities and its investments in Georgia. Mr. Jan-Willem Hoek, Investment Officer, and Ms. Naomi Campbell, Environmental & Social Officer, gave a presentation entitled ‘Doing Makes The Difference’, and explained the Bank’s commitment to global development and humanitarian outcomes.
In 2016 reform to levy profit tax was carried out in Georgia to accelerate economic growth in the country, create a favorable environment for starting business and production, and tax administration. The reform envisaged transferring into the Estonian model of levying profit tax, resulting in levying enterprises with taxes during profit distribution.
In September 2015, United Nations member states adopted the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development (the “Agenda”) and seventeen Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The Agenda and the SDGs propose that countries achieve sustainable development in economic, social and environmental dimensions simultaneously.
On May 3, the US-based World Resource Initiative (WRI) published ‘How to Enable Electric Bus Adoption In Cities Worldwide’, which examines the process of adopting e-buses in sixteen case study cities. Tbilisi City Hall took the first couple of steps necessary to introduce the first electric bus in 2018 and is expected to scale up the number to 200 from 2020.
On the 5th of June 2019, ISET and the Caucasus Environmental NGO Network (CENN) signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU). Under the scope of this MoU, new courses will be offered as part of ISET’s Bachelors and Master’s Programs; in the former, a course in environmental economics and circular economy will be offered as an elective, while for the latter, a course in environmental economics by Prof. Hans Wiesmeth will be available.