On the 25th of January, the Agricultural Policy Research Center attended a hearing of the draft law on agritourism by the sectoral committee of the Parliament of Georgia, during which our research team presented the findings of the Regulatory Impact Assessment (RIA) of the draft law and discussed the associated socio-economic benefits and costs.

The strength of the ISET community is best demonstrated by the solid bonds that exist within the community. The number of ISET community members are returning to help the institute by passing on their skills, knowledge, and experience to the next generations continues to grow.

Food supply systems are crucial to the economies of most developing countries, supplying the largest share of food production, and constituting livelihoods and a key source of income for the majority of the population (FAO, 2020). It is therefore vital to maintain the steady flow of goods and services required from local and international food supply chains to ensure the health of the population, and to protect their incomes and livelihoods.

The recovery of the Consumer Confidence Index, observed from May to July, has been losing steam in September and the November survey confirms that consumer confidence is struggling to go back to prior pandemic levels.

Starting from October 26, the ISET Policy Institute team, in cooperation with the USAID Economic Governance Program, started an online training course in Regulatory Impact Assessment (RIA) for public servants. The aim of the training is to provide participants from the selected institutions a clear understanding of the purpose of RIA, its structure and implementation, and how it works within the context of Georgian. The course will also develop and strengthen the participants’ technical skills that are necessary to conduct standard RIAs in accordance with the RIA methodology approved by the Government of Georgia in January 2020. The training is organized around specific RIA steps, included practical group activities every week, and will last for a total of seven weeks.