ISET kicked off its 2015-16 school year this Monday, August 31 with an orientation session for incoming students. ISET faculty, staff, and researchers warmly greeted the students and gave them a sense of what they can expect out of their next two years of study. ISET Dean of Students, Sopha Gujabidze spoke about the program’s rigor, encouraging students to study hard in their time in the program, but also detailed the close-knit alumni community, and all of the former students’ impressive accomplishments.

The growth forecast for the second quarter of 2015 was revised slightly downward from 5.1% to 5.0%. The growth forecast for the third quarter of 2015 has been targeted at 5.3%. Meanwhile, Geostat updated its GDP growth estimate for April 2015 to 0.9%.

Today I’m sitting down for a conversation across a continent and an ocean. Our guest is Professor Matthias Matthijs of the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS). He is the editor of the renowned and timely book “The Future of the Euro,” and a two-time recipient of the Max M. Fisher Award for excellence in teaching at SAIS. We will be talking about the Eurozone crisis and the lessons other small-state economies and their policymakers can learn from Greece’s unfortunate situation.

When Georgia ran into a conflict with its northern neighbor in 2008, it experienced considerable solidarity on part of its main Western ally. The United States supplied military transporters to fly back Georgian troops from Afghanistan, which was correctly understood by the Russians as a warning that the US would not allow Georgia to fall.

June is the time of the year when the Khachapuri Index reaches the lowest point in its annual cycle. The supply of fresh milk a key input in the production of Imeretian cheese reaches its seasonal peak a few months earlier, in March and April. The prices of cheese, while declining in a continuous fashion from January onward, bottom out with a lag of two-three months, by June or July.