South Caucasus Trade Study to identify a number of areas focusing on three thematic components: (i) Trade, export, investment, and private sector development measures, (ii) Border management, (iii) New developments in regional integration.

Strengthening capacity of business support organizations on DCFTA and SME related policies.

An ISET-PI team led by EEPRC’s Head Norberto Pignatti is conducting a Regulatory Impact Assessment (RIA) of the pension reform currently discussed in Georgia. The government of Georgia is considering to introduce a reform of the Pension system. The process is led by the Ministry of Economy and Sustainable Development (MoESD).

As the Election Day of October 8th approaches, we hear more and more about the platforms of Georgian political parties. Given that political competition is very fierce, one naturally expects to hear some blatantly populist statements – the kind of political promises (known to humanity from the times of Aristophanes) which are very popular among the voters, but are hard or impossible to implement in practice.

Starting from October 1, 2017, a private retirement savings system will be launched in Georgia as part of broader pension reform. This reform has been discussed by Nino Doghonadze and Yaroslava Babych in Decent Income in Old Age: Georgian Dream or Reality? on the ISET Economist. Today we will focus only on one very interesting aspect of the reform – the “opt-out” principle and its implementation in the Georgian realities.