Though it has been 15 years since the countries of the South Caucasus region gained independence, territorial conflicts and other factors of instability continue to affect the region, leaving regional stabilization still out of reach. With little human exchange taking place within the region due to the antagonism between Armenia and Azerbaijan, there is an urgent need to develop human resources capable of taking leadership roles in the next-generation in the area, which is making the transition to a market economy. This project uses the geopolitical advantages of Georgia, which has a good relationship with both Armenia and Azerbaijan, to host training seminars for young leaders from all three countries, to develop human resources, and to foster trust within the region.
Five people from each country, for a total of 15 young leaders representing the government, nonprofit, and business sectors participated in the training seminar in Tbilisi October 24-November 5, 2006. Lecturers invited from Georgia, Japan, Singapore, and China gave talks with such titles as "Small State in Search of Security (The Case of Georgia)," "Strategies in the Process of Global Transformation," "Economic Policy in Transitional Countries," "Japanese Foreign Policy," "Current Chinese Economy: Economic Integration between China and East Asia," "Development Experience of ASEAN and China," and "Japanese Financial Industry and Recent Trends." These contributed to the transfer of knowledge as well as to the formation of human networks between young people from the three countries.