Vladimer Papava was born in Tbilisi on March 25, 1955. In 1972 he finished Tbilisi secondary school No 15 with a gold medal. That same year he enrolled at the Faculty of Engineering Economics of the Tbilisi State University with a specialization in economic cybernetics graduating it with excellence in 1977. In 1977 he started to work as a Junior Research Fellow at the Institute of Economics and Law of the Georgian Academy of Sciences. In 1978-1982 he was a research intern at the Central Economic Mathematical Institute of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR and later a post-graduate student at the same institute. In 1982 Vladimer Papava returned to the Institute of Economics and Law of the Georgian Academy of Sciences, where he held the positions of junior, senior, leading and principal research fellows. In 1991 he was elected as the Director of the Institute of Economics and Law.

On June 24, 1994 Papava was appointed Minister of Economy by decision of the Head of State of Georgia; he held this position until May 2000. Vladimir Papava is the author of 343 papers, monographs, textbooks and articles with 34 articles published in international and 24 – in Russian journals with high impact factor. He has published 14 monographs abroad (USA, Sweden, Russia, Greece, Azerbaijan). The citation index under Publish or Perish 4 is 490. He is a member of the editorial boards of two international and one Russian scientific journals with high impact factors. During years Vladimer Papava performed various duties: Editor-in-Chief of the Proceedings of the Georgian Academy of Sciences – Economic Series (1992-2005); Chairman of the Coordinating Economic Council of the Scientific Experts Board of Georgia (1992-2003); Member of the Economic Council of the President of Georgia (1993-2003; 2005-present); Alternate Governor of the World Bank for Georgia (USA, 1994-2000); Member of the Editorial Board of the Problems of Economic Transition (USA, 1997-present); Member of the Editorial Board of the Society and Economics (Russia, 1998-present); Member of the Editorial Board of the Central Asia and The Caucasus (Sweden, 2004-present); Member of the Editorial Board of The Caucasus & Globalization (Sweden, 2006-present); Member of the Transatlantic Steering Group for Project on Democratic Transitions (USA, 2006-present); Senior Associate Fellow of the Central Asia-Caucasus Institute & Silk Road Studies Program Joint Center (Johns Hopkins University-SAIS) (2006-present); Member of the CASE (Center for Social and Economic Research) Advisory Council (Poland, 2007-present); Chairman of the Scientific Committee for Economics of the National Academy of Sciences of Georgia (2011-present); Member of the Board of Advisers of the Minister of Finance of Georgia (2013-present).