The impact of COVID-19 pandemic on the world, including on Georgia’s economy, discussion of problems and sharing of international examples and recommendations were the main topics of the 5th international scientific conference “Challenges of Globalization in Economics and Business” held at Ivane Javakhishvili Tbilisi State University. Rector of TSU, George Sharvashidze, Deputy Minister of Education, Science, Culture and Sport, Nunu Mitskevich, Deputy Minister of Economy and Sustainable Development, Ekaterine Mikabadze, Georgian and foreign scientists and academics attended a plenary session of the online conference.

Rector George Sharvashidze welcomed the participants and noted that the world is facing a lot of challenges due to the pandemic and economic difficulties. “Economies in various countries are experiencing difficulties because of the pandemic, especially Georgian economy. I think that our format is a very interesting format, where scholarly debates would suggest solutions to politicians, decision makers and re-think of what might be the future of humanity, our universe, our universities or our countries”.

In her remarks, Deputy Minister of Education, Science, Culture and Sport, Nunu Mitskevich focused on global problems caused by the pandemic, as well as promotion of scientific activities and learning. She said that “the today’s conference is very important because it aims at acquiring new knowledge, as well as developing new theories. Despite the global lockdown, we managed to create a uniform space, to exchange opinions and share research results at both national and international levels.”

“The pandemic had a significant impact on all directions of economy, globally and in our country, as well as on long-term development goals. Today, it is especially important that countries manage to find an optimal balance between globalization and necessary level of economic –self-sufficiency,” Deputy Minister of Economy and Sustainable Development, Ekaterine Mikabadze said.

Dean of the TSU Faculty of Economics, Giorgi Gaganidze spoke about the challenges faced by economy in the epoch of globalization, noting that “everybody is asking economists what’s going on and we have our classical professional answer – on the one hand, we have globalization and on the other hand, we have pandemic. And what would be the results, it’s not clear. I hope that our conference will be quite fruitful and all topics, which we are going to cover, are very important.”

Prof. Dr. Günter Hofbauer of Technical University Ingolstadt (Germany) presented the results of his research “An Insight into the Current Situation of the German Automotive Industry.” He said that the conference is a good opportunity to jointly find a solution to the persisting problems.

“Post-Pandemic Perspectives on Sustainable Development of International Tourism in Georgia” was the main topic covered by TSU Professor Ioseb Khelashvili. He said that in the post-pandemic period, it is important to search for new markets to promote the development and recovery of tourism industry, to develop high quality and innovative services, which will be based on local natural and cultural peculiarities. Moreover, the country’s geographic location, business environment and investment climate should be advanced in this process, he added.

The online conference continued its work in 16 thematic sections. The conference was held using ZOOM platform and it was live streamed on TSU’s official Facebook page.