The Georgian President Salome Zourabichvili on Sunday highlighted the importance of the country’s energy independence by calling energy “one of the main foundations” of state independence.

"We all know that Georgia largely depends on Svaneti. We know that energy is one of the main foundations of our independence. If we are not independent in this regard, we cannot be independent at all, and this is very easy to see if we look at the current events and the situation in Europe, which is forced to find alternative sources of energy. We see how important this is for the preservation of freedom, for the Svanetian people and for all Georgians," - the President declared.