On 1-2 February, Yaroslava Babych, head of Macroeconomic Policy Research Center participated in an international forum – “The Prospects of Georgia’s Democratic and Economic Development” organized by the Institute for Development of Freedom of Information (IDFI), in partnership with the University of Bremen and with the financial support of the Federal Foreign Office of Germany.

On November 12th, President of ISET and ISET-PI, Eric Livny moderated a panel discussion on “Competing Water Needs” organized by the USAID policy-advocacy project Governing for Growth in Georgia (G4G). Representatives of all water-using sectors were invited to participate. The discussion included the viewpoints of stakeholders in the agriculture, environment, and energy sectors.

On October 6th, ISET-PI research fellow, Levan Pavlenishvili of the Energy and Environment Policy Research Center, participated in a panel discussion organized by World Experience Georgia (WEG) at Ligamus Book shop of Ilia State University. The panel discussed Discussion subsidies in the energy sector and it was attended by representatives of academia and other sector stakeholders including WEG representatives Mr. Murman Margvelashvili and Mr. Giorgi Mukhigulishvili.

On Tuesday, September 15th, Levan Pavlenishvili, research associate of Energy & Environment Research Center, visited Eastern Partnership Youth Camp in Kvareli. Levan leads a session on the Market Economy. He conducted a Competitive Bazaar simulation with camp participants to give them a sense of how the market works. As this simulation requires, Levan divided participants into two groups of buyers and sellers.

Since the Rose Revolution, pro-Western Georgian politicians strive to lead their country into the apparent safe haven of the NATO defense collective. So far membership seems far off, causing disappointment among many Georgians and affirming those who preferred less integration in the Western geopolitical bloc. The continuing debate as to whether or not Georgia should assume full membership in the alliance may be obfuscating the reality that the present relationship with the alliance is the most ideal for Georgia.