Once the wealthiest Soviet republic, Georgia has since fallen far behind other post-Soviet states (except for, perhaps, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan and Moldova) in almost any parameter of wellbeing. Adjusted for purchasing power parity, Georgia’s annual income per capita in 2012 was close to $5,900 (a little higher than in resources-poor Armenia).

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.

On December 14-16 ISET Policy Institute representatives participated in an inception workshop organized by the Asian Development Bank in Bangkok, Thailand. This workshop was held in the scope of the study on “Good Jobs for Inclusive Growth in Central and West Asia” (GJIG study).

On November 18th, ISET hosted Principle Economist of Asian Development Bank, Dr. Donghyun Park, who gave a presentation on Inequality, Inclusive Growth, and Fiscal Policy in Asia.

The study aims at offering recommendations to improve Asian Development Bank and other development partners; assistance to developing countries in creating conditions to enable inclusive growth through their projects and operations. For that ISET Policy Institute will conduct in-depth analysis on income distribution, labor market, and other aspects of inclusive growth.