I have been living away from Yerevan for four years. Over these years, every time I visited my city, I noticed more and more new (and fancy) cafes. Over time, I also noticed that café visits seemed to grow in numbers and I started wondering whether it was just my impression or the reality. I have been particularly puzzled by the paradoxical nature of the fact that people always complain about their wages and living standards, yet they do not mind spending money in cafés.

On Thursday, November 15, the Agricultural Policy Research Center (APRC) presented the results of its “Study on Private Service Providers in Organic Hazelnut Value Chain in Georgia” to stakeholders. The event was organized by HEKS-EPER South Caucasus, the ISET Policy Institute (ISET-PI), and PAKKA AG, a Swiss holding.

BCI in the fourth quarter of 2018 has worsened, dropping to 29.9 index points, which is a 5.5 index point loss over the previous quarter. The BCI drop is based on the worsening of past performance and expectations in many business sectors. Compared to other sectors, manufacturing and agriculture assessed their past performance and expectations the most pessimistically. In contrast, the retail trade sector is the most positive.

October 30 – November 1, 2018, Pati Mamardashvili traveled to Tashkent to present at the “Social science knowledge and sustainable agricultural development along the Silk Road” conference after being invited to participate as a keynote speaker. She shared the experience of ISET as a reform model for higher education in the post-Soviet world.

On October 26-27, the APRC attended the second workshop on mainstreaming Agenda 2030 requirements in the Regulatory Impact Assessment (RIA) on Windbreaks Draft Law, organized by REC Caucasus with support from international donors.