MOSCOW, August 27, /ITAR-TASS/. Tourist industry, agriculture and energy sector are the most promising areas for investors in terms of Abkhazia’s economic development, Raul Khadjimba, the president elect of the young South Caucasian nation said Wednesday in an exclusive interview with Itar-Tass.
A former leader of Abkhazian political opposition, he won an early presidential election Sunday.
“Unfortunately, the inflow of holidaymakers to Abkhazia is seasonal so far but we’d like to make it permanent,” Khadjimba said. “The field is inexhaustible for investors, for anyone ready to work in that sphere, and agriculture adjoins it as a multiplicative factor.”
“Agriculture can be directly linked to tourism and the functioning of health resorts,” he said. “Our country is unique in terms of natural and climatic conditions. We could receive tourists here all year round and ensure the functioning of the tourist industry, as well as supply ecologically safe produce to the Russian market.”
Along with it, the Abkhazian leader admitted that infrastructure problems remained a major impediment to the development of tourism. In the light of it, he spoke in favor of an earliest possible construction of the trans-Caucasian mainline, development of the railway network and restoration of Sukhum airport.
Apart from tourism and agriculture, Khadjimba singled out the energy sector as a new priority guideline for economic development.
“Back in the Soviet times, small hydropower plants were actively built here,” he said. “We have enough water resources for resuming their construction. These plants can be fitted out with top-notch technologies, or else we could overhaul the already existing facilities.”
Khadjimba voiced the hope that he would manage to discuss the ways of inviting Russian investors in Abkhazia’s economy during his current stay in Moscow.