SOCHI, November 12. /TASS/. Russia remains "partner number one" for Abkhazia, Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday during a meeting with his Abkhazian colleague Aslan Bzhania.

"Right now, we have an opportunity to talk without any rush, in a calm atmosphere, about the development of our intergovernmental relations," the Russian leader said in the run-up to the meeting. "Unfortunately, the pandemic affects the economy, although naturally, Russia remains partner number one [for Abkhazia]," Putin said.

He noted that over 70% of Abkhazia’s turnover is with Russia. The Russian leader noted that there are very significant areas of Russian-Abkhazian cooperation. "I won’t even mention tourism, but there are other areas: agriculture, telecommunication. All this can and should be the topic of our today’s discussion," he added.

Putin expressed hope that the aid provided to Abkhazia by Russian medics in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic is making a difference. "I know that our specialists are working in the "red zone" of the Gudauta hospital, there’s a mobile hospital deployed by the Defense Ministry, military medics are also working," the Russian president stated. He offered Bzhania to discuss issues of mutual interest during their talks.