H. E. Mr. George Zurabashvili:

I thank Senator Craughwell for telling us of his good memories about visiting Batumi two years ago. Education is one of the main aspects about which any nation has to care. We are part of the Erasmus+ programme and one of the most active countries in it. If one goes to the statistics, more than 5,000 Georgians students enjoy the Erasmus+ programme. Some Georgians also travel to Ireland for the good education provided here. We are also part of other educational programmes of the European Union. As part of our next goal as an associate country of the European Union, we very much look forward to becoming part of the educational domains of the European Union.

The Georgian language is a source of great pride for us. At the same time, it is a bit local. We have to study other languages. The other language is English. It is obligatory from the first grade in school. That is why the young generation is fluent in the English language. They realise that if one wants to achieve something globally, one has to speak and know English well.

The reforms that the Georgian Government is fulfilling will take time and are painful for the population. We understand that to have a bright future, one, sometimes, must struggle today. We are proud of the anti-corruption measures that we are doing quite well. For instance, according to the corruption percentage index of 2019, Transparency International ranked Georgia 44 among 180 countries. It should not be forgotten that 30 years ago Georgia was part of the Soviet Union which was totally based on corruption. It is a huge progress for us. At the same time, we are listed as No. 1 in the absence of corruption category in Eastern Europe and Central Asia in the Rule of Law Index 2020 surveyed by the World Justice Project. We are doing well. There are many other things that need to be tackled but we are on the right path.

Regarding UN resolutions, the Senator is correct that they do not bring results. We do not know any other terms beside the resolutions, however.

At the same time, those resolutions are very helpful. They bring results. Whenever the resolutions are straightforward, vocal and firm, they will definitely bring results. I am grateful to the Oireachtas for the several resolutions that have been passed in Leinster House. I anticipate more and more because this is the only job we can do together here.

Deputy Brady asked a question on the economy. The Georgian economy was not doing badly before the pandemic. The country's GDP growth before the pandemic was 5%, which is a good figure for us or for any country. Our economy is not as big or wealthy as Ireland's but it is very diversified, which keeps us resilient to the turmoil that happens in the world economy. Everybody suffers in a pandemic and the Georgian economy has suffered a lot. We will probably have negative growth by the end of this year. I cannot yet give any figure but we do not anticipate anything good. However, I saw yesterday in the Georgian press that the National Bank of Georgia is predicting growth of approximately 4.5% in 2021. If that happens, it will be a very successful year for us, after the pandemic. Of course, it depends on the epidemiological situation and the vaccination process and not only in Georgia because we are interconnected with our immediate neighbourhood and with the whole world. We hope the vaccination process will progress well so as to allow the interlinked economies to take another breath and jump forward.

Deputy Stanton mentioned hydropower and hydroelectricity. Georgia is a mountainous country and our permanent glaciers mean we have streams and rivers full of water. We use hydropower plants for 85% of our power generation so we can say that almost all electricity generation is green in Georgia. We import whatever we need but our own generation is hydropower. In the summer, we export electricity to neighbouring countries. We have constructed a high-voltage grid to connect us with Turkey for the importation and exportation of electricity. We have others with Russia, Armenia and Azerbaijan. We are thinking about constructing an underwater electricity cable link to the European Union to enable us to export green energy to the EU. The Black Sea has become the sea of connectivity. The Black Sea is not as big as it used to be in old times. Its length is about 1,100 km. It is not that long and can be crossed in a two-hour flight. It is very much possible and we are considering this opportunity.

I think I missed one of the topics that were raised.