President of Russia Vladimir Putin: Good afternoon, friends.
I had a substantive discussion with my colleague. We met to renew our personal contact and to look at what has been accomplished in our bilateral ties over these last years. We noted that progress has been made, the most essential has been accomplished after the difficult events of past years, but we see that there is still a lot more that needs to be done.
We discussed security, solutions for security issues, and border control matters. We looked at our relations in the financial sector and discussed the instruments we could create in order to develop our economic relations more effectively and perhaps faster than has been the case so far.
Of course, we also looked at social sphere and people’s incomes, the incomes of healthcare and education sector workers above all. We discussed possibilities for expanding cooperation between our medical and educational establishments. The Russian Government will keep these matters under its control. We agreed to continue our regular contacts.
President of Abkhazia Alexander Ankvab: It was a very important and useful discussion that took place today. We confirmed the depth of our relations and discussed all of the questions important for the Republic of Abkhazia, including economic development, investment, social issues, defence matters, and joint protection of the border with Georgia.
We reaffirmed our common desire to ensure peace and order in Abkhazia and make Abkhazia, this country the Russian Federation has recognised, a republic we can be proud of. We have everything we need to achieve this.
This is all the more so as we feel Russia’s solid support. We have developed at a decent pace over the last 7 years, but our economists, and we ourselves, realise that we cannot do without Russia’s help. We hope very much for Russia’s continued support and will make careful use of it so as to bring our people the biggest possible benefits.