Dmitry Chernyshenko had a meeting with President of the Republic of Abkhazia Aslan Bzhania.
Dmitry Chernyshenko’s meeting with President of the Republic of Abkhazia Aslan Bzhaniya
Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Chernyshenko had a meeting with President of
the Republic of Abkhazia Aslan Bzhania.
They focused on the development
of the tourism industry and bilateral trade.
The Deputy Prime Minister noted that Russian-Abkhazian cooperation was developing
dynamically. Under the guidance of the head of the republic, important
investment projects continue to be implemented in the republic; mutual trade
and tourist traffic are also expanding. In 2021, Russian citizens took over 5
million trips to Abkhazia. The number of tourist trips totalled two million in
January-June 2022.
“In late 2021, Russian-Abkhazian trade totalled 27 billion roubles, a
37-percent increase on 2020. The tourist traffic also continues to increase. We
are confident that the arrival of Russian tour operators and companies on the
Abkhazian market will positively influence the republic’s well-being and the local
employment situation. Of course, it is necessary to increase the number of
local companies that should take up vacant niches. Logistics are a key issue in
expanding bilateral tourism. We see two bottlenecks, and a vehicle checkpoint
is the first of them. The plan is to expand its daily capacity to 100,000
people and 20,000 cars. This work is underway. Air traffic is the second
aspect. There are plans to overhaul the Sukhum Airport. I believe that regular
air traffic will facilitate the republic’s economic growth and prosperity, and
that it will attract numerous businesspersons and tourists from the Krasnodar
Territory and neighbouring Sochi, as well as from all other Russian regions.
The right conditions are in place for this,” Dmitry Chernyshenko said.
“We see the tourism industry as a leading sector. We would like Russian
investors to maintain their presence in the republic. Abkhazia, eastern
Abkhazia in particular, has impressive potential. We hope that the pace of life
in these areas will become completely different once the airport starts
operating. The Psou checkpoint is our gateway to the world. We need to expedite
efforts to resolve issues linked with expanding the checkpoint’s capacity,”
Aslan Bzhania noted.
The Deputy Prime Minister added that the reconstruction of the Adler multilateral
vehicle checkpoint is included in the state programme Development of the
Transport System. There are plans to complete the project in 2025.
