From November 18 to 22, 2019. 22 students of the compulsory elective module Black Sea Region travelled to Tbilisi to examine the question if Georgia is still a role model for transparent politics and business-friendly framework conditions. To answer this question, the students met experts from different organisations to ask them about current opportunities and risks in Georgia. The student met representatives of the World Bank, the EU delegation, the Georgian Institute for Political Analysis (GIPA) and the Economic Policy Research Center (ECRP). The students had also the opportunity to visit the local branch of the transportation and logistics company Gebrüder Weiss to learn about their experiences as a foreign company in Georgia. Gebrüder Weiss is the oldest Austrian logistics company (founded in 1823) and has been active in Georgia since 2012. Below some impressions of the excursion:

The participants of the excursion during their visit at the Austrian company Gebrüder Weiss in Tbilisi.

Sebastian Molineus, World Bank Regional Director for the South Caucasus, answers questions from the students.

The excursion was completed by exploring the Georgian Orthodox Metechi Church in Tbilisi and the approximately 3000-year-old royal city of Mtskheta northeast of Tbilisi. The Metechi Church on the picture was built in the 13th century. In the 1900s, it was used as a prison, in which the later dictator of the Soviet Union, Josef Stalin, was kept as a prisoner.