Georgia has a number of laws and regulations governing water resources, dating back to the late nineties and partially amended after 2003. These changes, however, have not always followed a clear and coherent strategy. Consequently, in the words of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE), the current legislation is an “unworkable and fragmented system”.

While listening to Wade Davis, who has been often described as “a rare combination of scientist, scholar, poet and passionate defender of all of life’s diversity,” the subject of biosphere reserves came to my mind. This was partly because earlier this year I conducted a series of trainings on this issue with local municipality representatives in the Kakheti region, and partly because, as an economist, I see how valuable biosphere reserves can be to preserve cultural (and of course bio!) diversity.

Build the capacity of the representatives of Parliament of Georgia and executive agencies to understand and apply the RIA methodology. Georgia is in the process of institutionalizing RIA as an integral part of policy-making, both in the executive and legislative branches of government.

Drug policy reform is now at the center of a heated debate in Georgia. Despite the importance of the subject, however, most of the discussions I have heard so far are based on phobias and myths, rather than on evidence. This is a pity, as a society will ultimately have to decide on the subject by voting YES or NO on this reform, thereby choosing between very different potential outcomes. Having an informed opinion on the issue is, therefore, extremely important.

In 2013, as a follow-up to public consultations on improving the acting company law in Georgia, a working group was established to elaborate a new Draft Law of Georgia on Entrepreneurs (“Draft Law”). The working group was created under the Private Law Reform Council of the Ministry of Justice of Georgia, the USAID-funded Judicial Independence and Legal Empowerment Project, which was succeeded by the Promoting Rule of Law in Georgia (PROLoG) Activity, with both projects implemented by the East-West Management Institute (EWMI), was a cooperating partner