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The Berlin Process, launched in 2014, is an intergovernmental cooperation initiative to strengthen ties between a group of EU Member States, inter alia Germany, France and Poland, and EU membership candidate and potential candidate countries in Southeastern Europe. It also aims to foster cooperation in areas like economic development and infrastructure.

Together with the Institute for Economic Research and Policy Consulting (IER) in Kyiv, we have modelled macroeconomic developments for this year and the coming year. Our analysis suggests that although the Ukrainian economy has returned to a growth path, the war is exacting a high economic price. Moreover, forecasting in a highly volatile environment is fraught with uncertainty.

On 27 June, Armenian Finance Minister Vaheh Hovhannesyan received BE Managing Director and GET Team Leader Dr Ricardo Giucci and Dmitry Chervyakov, GET Project Manager for Armenia.

This week has been all about Ukraine. On Tuesday and Wednesday, the highly acclaimed Ukraine Recovery Conference took place in Berlin, where we had the opportunity to attend. In addition to the panels, there were many opportunities for interesting background discussions with other participants. There were also numerous side events where key issues were discussed in more detail.

As part of LEG Thüringen’s business trip to Georgia, Dr Ricardo Giucci, Team Leader of the German Economic Team, gave an overview of the country’s economic situation at the delegation’s kick-off briefing.

On May 16, 2024, the German-Kosovar Business Association (KDWV) and the German Economic Team (GET) successfully hosted an event at Klan Arena in Pristina, focusing on improving Kosovo’s business climate. The event brought together key stakeholders to discuss the progress and future steps to enhance the business environment in Kosovo.

On the 2nd and 3rd of May 2024, the Tashkent International Investment Forum (TIIF) took place, featuring a keynote opening by Uzbekistan’s President, Shavkat Mirziyoyev. As part of the German Economic Team project, Berlin Economics participated in a high-ranking panel discussion on Uzbekistan’s green transition.

At the beginning of May, Sven Giegold, State Secretary at the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action (BMWK), travelled to Tbilisi with a business delegation. The programme was organised by the German Embassy, the German Business Association and the German Eastern Business Association.

As part of a joint event organised by the Stuttgart Chamber of Commerce – District Chamber of Göppingen and the Kosovar-German Business Association (KDWV) on investment opportunities for German companies in Kosovo, the German Economic Team gave a presentation.

Together with the AHK Ukraine, the authors (Robert Kirchner, Garry Poluschkin, Dr. Julian Ries, Thomas Otten) have identified 30 concrete reform proposals to improve Ukraine’s investment climate. While Ukraine’s economy grew by 5% in 2023, this growth followed a sharp decline of 29% in wake of the Russian attack in 2022. In the future, Ukraine must develop a sustainable growth strategy, unlocking all potential drivers of growth.

We are delighted to have participated in an event orchestrated by the Ministry of Industry and Trade alongside Minister Hajdari and representatives from municipalities and business federations.

The German Economic Team’s trip to Tashkent took place in the week from 5 to 10 February. In addition to a series of meetings, a key part of the trip was the workshop on applied macroeconometrics at the Central Bank of Uzbekistan.