H.E. Mr. George Zurabashvili:

I thank the Deputy.

Regarding support on this EU journey, that was very much a specific question but I will answer it in a general way. We have representation in Brussels, which is dealing with the EU institutions on resources, be they human or financial, and any other expertise. We have good relations with the Commission and our representation is working in tandem with it, but the support and expertise of Ireland would be crucial for us because we are like-minded countries and perhaps it is possible to find topics of mutual interest where Ireland can support Georgia on this journey. Ireland has achieved fantastic results on its journey since joining the EU and we know how supportive Ireland is of small nations. Working together might be interesting for both of us and, at the same time, beneficial.

We have discussed the threat from Russia, but today's is a different approach. It is not just military aggression, but a hybrid approach, as the Deputy mentioned. A hybrid war means that the tools and arsenal are diverse, including disinformation, propaganda and misleading society. I am grateful to the EU and the world for banning the propaganda machine of the Russian Federation, for example, Russia Today, which was brainwashing millions of people. That move was fantastic. Unfortunately, with the propaganda and social media available nowadays, any individual can create the news compared with how it was done in old times. This means that the outreach of the propaganda machine was vast and wide. It also did not miss any country, in that it was well networked in all European states and across the world. As such, the sanctions against its broadcasting will be helpful.

Regarding food, Ukraine is one of the largest producers of wheat for flour. I cannot speculate what will happen in future, but we are satisfying ourselves at the moment and are not dependent on products from the Russian economy. We have more or less stability in our energy resources. We have excellent relations with Azerbaijan, which is our strategic partner, and most of our energy resources are coming from there. We get our crude oil from there - we collect our share while it is being transported via Georgia. The Deputy might know that there are a few pipelines carrying crude oil and gas from the Caspian basin into European markets via Georgia. Approximately 5% of the world's crude oil flows via Georgia. We are a green country when it comes to energy generation and are more or less self-sufficient in terms of electricity. However, the future is still to be shown.