Ms Sofia Katsarava:

The European Union is highly visible in Georgia, including in financial matters. We are receiving a wide range of support from the European Union in terms of the democratisation agenda as we call it, that is, the consolidation of democracy, good governance and capacity building of the institutions etc. I do not want to undermine any of the projects, which are all important in their own way, but agriculture was mentioned and one of the flagship projects the European Union has supported throughout the years and which it continues to support is the development of the agricultural sector and supporting local farmers in the regions.

I call it the flagship project because it reaches out to local people and those farmers in the regions who might get more from exporting produce to the European Union. The European market is one of the biggest markets these days for Georgia. With the support of the European Union we can bring these tangible and practical benefits to the locals in the regions, which is extremely important. That is why we are encouraging the European Union and individual member states to continue this support. Ultimately what matters is that all our citizens get the benefit of these supports and get closer to the European Union. That is one of the agricultural flagship programmes, which is very important for the whole country.

As I said, there is a range of projects on which the European Union supports Georgia. Equally important is the process of consolidating democracy. That, of course, includes the Judiciary, the rule of law, good governance and the institutional building that we are now going through.

There was another question about progress on the Geneva discussions. I have tried to explain how it works. I echo what my colleague, Mr. Sergi Kapanadze said: there is no progress whatsoever. It is not because of the format of the Geneva international discussions but because of the lack of political will from the Russian Federation. We recently made it very clear that the Georgian side is ready to improve the effectiveness of the Geneva international discussions by possibly increasing, if needed, the political level in the forum because if there is no political will from the other side, it is very hard to achieve to reach any agreement. The recent Geneva round was yet another demonstration of that.

Thus far, we have seen the destructive approach from the Russian Federation and the lack of will to make the Geneva forum effective and take decisions that would be in the interest of those involved. At the moment we do not see any progress. However, as this is the only international forum of this type, we have to continue to utilise it and ultimately reach some agreement for the benefit of those people who are suffering on the ground. This is ultimately our concern. Those people who live in the occupied territories face a very challenging environment. They suffer from the intimidation and discrimination on ethnic grounds and that is why it is important for the international community to come over and see what is happening on the ground. I reiterate how acute it is and only by seeing it on the ground can our partners understand the gravity of the situation.

For example, on the occupation line there were several checkpoints through which there was movement across the occupation line. There were people who were receiving benefits from the territory controlled by the Georgian Government, because we were offering all the benefits such as education, health care and social benefits. All those checkpoints were closed down. We are talking about this kind of stuff. People are deprived of all the social, health care and educational opportunities - when it comes to using them on the other side - that we obviously are ready and happy to offer. As soon as the mobility increased to a certain extent, the checkpoints were closed down. The gravest and most painful recent case that happened cannot be left without adequate reaction. The international community reacted and provided support in the case of a Georgian citizen who died recently in the occupied region. Some 20% of Georgia's territory is occupied and it is very important that our partners get first-hand information on that.

I was asked about NATO. I again echo the words of Mr. Sergi Kapanadze: it is a matter of security for Georgia. At present, we have unprecedented and intensive close co-operation with NATO in terms of practical co-operation and strengthening defence capacity and capability of Georgia. This is extremely important for the security of our country. We keep saying and we are demonstrating with our actions that we are not so-called recipients of the security but are contributing to the security in the region and beyond. As Mr. Kapanadze mentioned, Georgia is in a different environment and we should actively pursue our membership of NATO precisely because it is a matter of security for the country.

I may have missed some of the questions.