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Abkhazia touts investment potential ahead of Russian Olympics

By M. Alkhazashvili
(Translated by Diana Dundua)
Monday, April 14
Abkhazia will be the main supplier of building materials for construction work in the run-up to the Sochi Olympic Games in 2014, de facto president of the breakaway region, Sergey Baghapsh recently said.

He said a tender has already been announced for the construction of a concrete factory in Tkvarcheli and there are plans for another concrete factory to be built in Ochamchire near the seaport.

Total investment in the region will be in the region of USD 300–350 million, Baghapsh added, according to the newspaper Rezonansi.

In March Russia withdrew from a Commonwealth of Independent States treaty imposing sanctions on Abkhazia, stating that the situation in the region had dramatically changed since 1996 when sanctions were put in place.

“Against this background, maintaining [sanctions] is completely pointless, and prevents a realization of socio-economic programs in the region, forcing Abkhaz people into unjustified suffering,” a March 6 statement from the Russian Foreign Ministry reads.