
In early February 2016, ISET opened its doors to a group of 7 economics students and faculty from one of Europe’s top schools of business and economics, HEC at the University of Lausanne, Switzerland.

Just like Duddy Kravitz, Georgian men (and women) appear to be reluctant to part with their parcels of land, however small and unproductive. Whatever the reason, Georgia sees almost no structural change out of agriculture, and, as a result, very low productivity and income growth for the poorest strata of its population. As of today, employment (or, rather, under-employment) in agriculture is a staggering 45% of Georgia’s total labor force.

On Monday, February 15th, ISET and the Faculty of Business and Economics of the University of Lausanne (Switzerland) jointly organized a workshop on economic theory and related fields. The workshop took place in the conference hall at ISET from the afternoon until the late evening, interrupted only by various coffee breaks, which gave the attending students from ISET and HEC Lausanne the opportunity to connect with the presenters, build up their professional networks, and discuss frontier research in economics.

Ancient Greeks’ fascination with Georgia was not limited to the Golden Fleece. Legend has it that ‘Georgia’ comes from the Greek γεωργός (Georgios), reflecting the advanced land plowing practices of Georgian tribes, which distinguished them from their nomadic and yet unsettled neighbors. The Georgians (Colchians and Iberians, to be more precise) must have really made a formidable impression on the Argonauts to deserve such recognition.

On Tuesday, January 26th ISET hosted a delegation of His Excellency Lukas Beglinger, Ambassador of Switzerland to Georgia, and Olivier Bürki, Counselor, Embassy of Switzerland, Regional Director South Caucasus to the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation SDC and State Secretariat for Economic Affairs SECO. The purpose of the visit was to get to know the new Ambassador and the new Director of SDC and SECO and discuss the strengthening and continuation of the collaboration.