On November 8, 2019, at Georgian National Academy a ceremonial meeting was held dedicated to the World Science Day for Peace and Development. A delegation from Georgian Academy of Agricultural Sciences headed by Academician G. Aleksidze, President of the Academy took active participation in the event.

In 2001, UNESCO declared November the 10^th a Day for peace and development of science. It also highlights the need to engage wider public in debates on emerging scientific issues. The first Conference was held in Budapest, Hungary by International Union of Scientists. The annual celebrations hold in many countries aim to highlight the role and necessity of science for the society and in their everyday life.

Scientific Academies of Georgia join the celebration and hold meetings dedicated to World Science Day for Peace and Development.

The Meeting was opened by the President of the National Academy Giorgi Kvesitadze and congratulated the audience with the birthday of outstanding Georgian public figure, writer and poet, Ilia Chavchavadze. The next presenter was Academician Guram Aleksidze who underlined the importance and relevance of science in our daily life.

The researchers got blessing from high rank representative of Georgian Orthodox Church iorgi Zviadadze and greeted the audience from the name of Georgian Patriarch.

Archil Talakvadze, the Head of Georgian Parliament greeted the audience and underlined that:

“A nation will not able to create its future without science. It unites the past with the future, it can provide cooperation between the generations and connect a nation with international society. Georgian National Academy, a successor of Georgian medieval century academies of Gelati and Ikalto, preserves and transfers to future generations the knowledge, creation of which needs hundreds of years. This accumulated knowledge should be actively applied for the progress of the nation”.

Academician Nodar Chitanava dedicated his presentation to the problem of rational management of soil resources in Georgia.

The culmination of the Meeting was delivery of Diplomas to the holders of Academic Prizes. In the field of Agro chemistry the prize was given to Academician Gogola Margvelashvili, head of the Department of Agronomy, GAAS.

The President of Georgian Academy of Agriculture, Guram Aleksidze delivered a Certificate of Honor to the members of GAAS, Academician Nodar Chitanava and Member Correspondent Giorgi Nikolaishvili.

On October 23, 2019, at Georgian Academy of Agricultural Sciences a Meeting of the Commission on Agrarian Innovations was held. Levan Tortladze, Doctor of Agrarian Sciences, Professor of Agrarian University, made his presentation on the following topic: “Preservation and development of double productivity livestock in Eastern Europe.” He spoke about one of the achievements of the 29^th century in this field - breeding a new variety of cattle – “Caucasus Tsabla”, which is a good example of united effort of the scientists of Caucasus region working in this field.  

 According the data of 1990s, the number of of cattle – “Caucasus Tsabla”, reached 171 thousand; but in this century this breed is on the verge of extinction.

The problem has been raised by the presenter first time in 2002, at International Scientific Conference held in Erevan.

“We believe that it is possible to save this unique breed -Tsabla” , in case the effort of different scientists working in Caucasus will be united, declared the Conference participants. This process has already started with the project TCP/RER/3604, financed by FAO.

A Scientific – Research Center created in 2014 within the system of the Ministry of Agriculture of Georgia, is actively involved in the study of the problem.

The information presented at the Meeting encouraged live discussions round the problem among the researchers and practitioners; also, the importance of ongoing activities, as well as the future plans directed towards positively solution of the problem was emphasized.  

On October 11, 2019, a meeting with the Ambassador of republic of Korea Kim Se Woong was held. The Ambassador hosted the President of the Academy Guram Aleksidze and the Vice President, Dr. Anatoli Giorgadze.

The Ambassador got thorough information regarding the existed cooperation between the Georgian Academy of Agricultural Sciences and National Center of Genetics and other scientific centers of Korea which has been developing successfully for a few years in the field of agrarian sciences.

    During the meeting, Academician Guram Aleksidze emphasized the important issues the successful fulfillment of which will support development of long term partnership between the countries in the field of agrarian sciences. Among other problems, Guram Aleksidze discussed the perspectives of advancement of agricultural technologies in Georgia worked out by Korea.

The President of GAAS invited the Ambassador to visit the Academy, so that he could get more detailed information about the activities which will be mutually beneficial for the both parties.

Information regarding official visit to Agency of Agricultural Development, Jeonju, Korea, and the memorandum signed.

(For full information see the link)

On October 14-19, following the invitation from The Agency of Agricultural Development of the republic of Korea, Academician Guram Aleksidze, the President of Georgian Academy of Agricultural Sciences, and Deputy President, Dr. Anatoli Giorgadze visited Republic of Korea. The aim of the visit was: 1. to sum up a 5-year work of the Academy and Korea Center for Agro-bio-diversity – collection, maintenance and application of plant genetic resources; 2. To get information about on-going researches at scientific institutions regarding the problem.

The guests visited the Center of Genetic Resources of Korea in which about 500 thousand samples collected in different countries are kept, among them are: cereal and legume – 174.94; food cultures – 168 638, horticultural and vegetable crops – 29 116, technical cultures – 22 670, forage and other -3 651, clone herma-plasma– 28 027, micro organisms – 23 387, livestock, insects and silkworm plasma – 36 810, and other.

It should be mentioned that, among this collection are three thousand samples – seeds of vegetables and crop cultures which have been collected in Georgia with the help of Georgian partners. The Agreement between the parties also envisaged import of vegetable cultures in Georgia and selection, which was successfully carried out in 2015 and 2016. Multiplying of the samples took place in Vashlijvari tasting plot by Dr. N. Kakabadze.

A Memorandum about joint activities for the next 5-year was set up which was signed by the Director of the Center of Agro bio-diversity of Korea and Guram Aleksidze, the President of GAAS on October 16, 2019. In the same organization, on October 18, Academician G. Aleksidze delivered a presentation at the Scientific Seminar on the following topic: “Plant Genetic Resources in Georgia”. The presentation which demonstrated rich bio-diversity of Georgia and the necessity of collecting and study of the samples by the world researchers raised live interest among the staff members of the Center.

Within the framework of the official visit, Academician Aleksidze and Dr. A. Giorgadze went to see two scientific-research institutes of Viticulture and of Winemaking. The Academy has had a three-year exchange program experience with the mentioned institutes. Korean specialists took from Georgia to their country about 150 Georgian vine species to be implemented in Korea. At present, most of those introduced species are in the greenhouse conditions and will give yield in the nearest future. At the same time, 12 Asian vine species were introduced to Georgia which are currently being tested out on the testing plots of the Ministry of Agriculture.

G. Aleksidze and A. Giorgadze also visited Scientific Research Institutes of Horticulture and Bio-technologies and discovered some interesting aspects of the work carried out at the Institutes.

The President of GAAS is Opening the Conference

         On October 2-4, 2019, in Tbilisi, at Georgian Academy of Agricultural Sciences, an international scientific conference on the topic: “Wheat in European Countries and Georgia as one of the Origin of Wheat” was held.

       Conference was financially supported by Shota Rustaveli National Science Foundation, (MG-ISE-19-196).

     The aim of the Scientific Conference was to gain knowledge about existed condition of wheat and its spread in Europe as one of the main food cultures. One of the conference objectives was to generalize scientific achievements of European and Georgian researchers in wheat theory and technology. The Conference program embraced the following: Greetings of Georgian and invited

scholars, the plenary sessions and scientific presentations. The following international researchers took part in the Conference:

-       Antonio Michele Stanca (Italy) - Professor, University of Modena and Reggio Emilia. President of the Academy of Georgofili, President of the Union of European Academies for Sciences applied to Agriculture, Food and Nature (UEAA), Co - Chairman

-       Professor Michel Thibier ( France). French Academy of Agriculture; Co - Chairman

-       Professor Aleksey Morgunov. ( Turkey). CIMMYT - International Maize and Wheat  Improvement Center, Head of Turkey Office, Co-Chair;

-       José Luis Araus Ortega (Spain) Professor, Universitat de Barcelona, Centre for Research in  Agrotechnology ;

-       Acad. Igor Grinuk ( Ukraine) National Academy of Agrarian Sciences of Ukraine, Kiev, Ukraine

 -        T.I. Allahverdiyev, Institute of Moelcular Biology and Biotechology, Azerbaijan National Academy of Sciences.

      The Conference participants were the representatives of the Ministries of Education, Science, Culture and Sport, Environment and Agriculture, Ajara Ministry of Agriculture, Scientific-Research Centers, Georgian Technical University, Batumi Shota Rustaveli and Samtskhe-Javakheti State Universities, Associations, companies, firms, Tbilisi bread companies and other.

 The Conference was opened by the President of the Academy, Academician Guram Aleksidze. Also, foreign participants of the Conference listed above delivered welcoming speeches and wished success in the work of the Conference.

General Director of Shota Rustaveli National Science Foundation Zviad Gabisonia and Z. Margvelashvili, Head of Science Department, Ministry of Education, Science Culture and Sport, E. Zviadadze, and N. Khokhashvili, Head of department, Ministry of Environment and Agriculture; M. Turmanidze, First Deputy of Ajara Ministry of Agriculture, Professor Kvartskhava, Dean of Agrarian Sciences and Bio-systems Engineering, Georgian Technical University; L. Ujmajuridze, Director of Scientific Research Center, Lali Meskhi, the Head of Georgian Wheat Producers’ Union, and M. Dolidze, the Head of Bread Producers’ Association, and other Georgian invited guests spoke about the significance of the problems raised by the Conference and wished all participants success.  

According to the Conference Program, eight presentations were to be delivered during the Plenary session and fifty presentations during two days of Conference.  

(See the Conference Program in attachment).

Within the Conference framework, an exhibition was organized which presented wheat cultivated species and bread producers’ product. Different Companies, such as “Mzetamze”, “Margi”, Ipkli Dighomi”, Ipkli Gldani”, Georgian Bread House “Kevri” and others exhibited different brands. The participants and guests of the Conference tasted different types of bread made in Tbilisi, and all of them recognized the unique qualities and taste of Georgian bread.

   The Conference foreign participants were invited on the excursion to Georgian National Museum and Kakheti Region. ( Bodbe Monastery complex and Syghnaghi).

From the right, Michele Stanca, the President of the Union of European Academies for Sciences applied to Agriculture, Food and Nature, and Academician Guram Aleksidze, the President of Georgian Academy of Agricultural Sciences.