October 15-17 2018, Salome Gelashvili and Pati Mamardashvili from the APRC traveled to Switzerland to participate in a kick-off meeting of the collaboration between APRC and the School of Agricultural, Forest, and Food Sciences (HAFL) at the Bern University of Applied Science. The collaboration took place in the framework of initiatives funded by the Leading House for Swiss Science and Technology Cooperation with Russia and the CIS Region.

From the HAFL side, the meeting was attended by Dr. Urs Scheidegger (Head of Master Studies), Dr. Dominique Guenat (Lecturer in Agricultural Economics and Politics), Dr. Robert Lehmann (Head of Unit Teaching and Extension), Dr. Dominic Blättler (Professor for Rural Development &Innovation), and Pia Fehle (Research Scientist of International Agriculture).

The main goal of this collaboration is to develop proposals for joint research for development projects; the idea behind initiatives of this kind is that they can set an example for future collaboration of research organizations with Swiss Development Cooperation and other development agencies. In addition, these joint efforts provide the possibility for exchanges between scientists and students of ISET and HAFL.