Hospitality is one of the most prized aspects of Georgian culture. Welcoming (literal translation: "respecting") guests is a matter of great pride for any family. My mother grew up in a small Imeretian village, and as she tells me, the kids of the family were not allowed to eat until the guests were fully "respected", i.e. properly fed. Even the poorest household in the village would go out of its way (and income) to impress its guests with a cornucopia of local delicacies, meats, veggies, and homemade wine.

The goal of this study was to examine Georgia's agricultural export performance and make recommendations for its improvement. The study shows that the current structure of agricultural exports in Georgia is characterized by high share of processed products. Nevertheless, Georgia's agricultural export is currently concentrated on a few export products and is heavily dependent on CIS countries, being thus vulnerable to political and climate shocks.

Some Background on the Georgian PSA The present Population Situation Analysis (PSA) was carried out by the Country Office of UNFPA in Georgia, at the request of the Government Planning & Innovations Unit of the Administration of the Government of Georgia between late July and early November of 2014.

This year, the International School of Economics at Tbilisi State University (ISET) admitted nine Armenian students and one from Azerbaijan. They came to Tbilisi for a preparation course in August and all of them applied for residency permits before the first of September. All applications were exactly identical. Out of ten students, seven got their permits, two were denied, and one is still in process.

About 9 months ago, we were already discussing the oddities of egg prices in Georgia (“The Georgian Egg of Discord”, by Giorgi Kelbakiani and Eric Livny). At that time, huge volatility in egg prices could be explained by interesting political dynamics. Under the UNM government, local producers of eggs were largely protected from external competition through non-tariff import barriers, called by the ministry of agriculture a “complete violation of law and international agreements”.