ABKHAZIA CANNOT BE REGAINED, BUT RATHER BOUGHT

BY, Sophico Sichinava

“In one of Russian sites a certain construction firm offers its services almost in any part of the world. They warrant solution of all problems ranging from documents necessary for obtaining a construction permit to construction of modern buildings.

Abkhazia occupies a great place in advertisement texts. They also contain slides with Abkhazian resorts. We offer you an excerpt from this text:
“In these slides sights of Abkhazia? Shangri-La of our planet that were once famous as recreational resources of sanatorium and holiday houses are now empty. Today, this region that used to be a “hot point” in recent past, regained peace and chose tourism industry as a main direction of economic development. Not very large investments in these objects will bring colossal dividends in the nearest future. Low prices on property and cheap labour force make your investments more and more perspective. Abkhazia starts economic reforms and privatisation. What does this phrase imply for us, Russians? ? That a serious business can be made during privatisation process in Abkhazia. It will, probably, be late tomorrow, your place may be occupied by others. It has already had a real confirmation: our representatives observed a sharp increase in investment assets”.
A journalist of “The Nezavisimya” solves problems of Abkhazia in a quite simple and, in fact, right way. According to him, it is difficult to conquer Abkhazia, Abkhazia can only be bought. The Russians already act in accordance with this formulation. However, Russian newspapers do not mention which Russian establishments, private firms and structures are more active during the process of privatisation in Abkhazia.
Tamaz Nadareishvili says that everything was sold in Abkhazia. “Privatisation process in Abkhazia is, in fact, nearing its end. Everything was sold. We know organisations that performed privatisation: they are mostly Russian, Turkish and partly Ukrainian structures. But we reached an agreement with them so they avoided taking part in this process. There are Moscow, Rostov, Nalchik, Krasnodar Universities and different establishments: Tomsk, Ryazan, Simbir establishments. Direct influence on them must be made by means of the Russian Government”.
Newspaper “The Ru”provides more information:
“Anri Jergenia conducted political negotiation in Moscow. Vladimir Loshini, the first vice minister of the External Affairs Ministry received the Abkhazian delegation. No official statement was made about the talks. According to the Russian press information, the Abkhazian party offered Russia to take part in privatisation of Gagra and Bichvin structures. Jergenia confirmed in the press conference that he had really made this offer to the Russian party, but then he added that the negotiation was yet under consideration. Separatist leaders are well aware of the fact that even the most profitable offers for Moscow will not serve as a safety warrant for them.
As far as it is known, main investors in Abkhazia are Russian companies. It is obvious that investment in famous Abkhazian resorts has its positive and negative sides. The positive side is that Abkhazian assets can be purchased at a very cheap price, almost for nothing. Tourism in Abkhazia has noticeably revived due to the reduction of Russia’s blockage. The local government thought it was time to attract strategic investors. Russian business has already started to work in this region as well as in the sphere of tourism. As the newspaper “The Ru” was informed in the apparatus of Abkhazian Prime Minister, such factories as Chelyabinsk tractor-constructing one and “Sochavia” has already invested money in Abkhazian resorts. The Abkhazian government that is an owner of a significant part of resort infrastructure tries to find investors on the basis of competition. “We mean long-term lease, though privatisation is not ruled out either”, – said Igor Akhaba, a competent representative of Abkhazia in Russia.
Russia is well aware that policy will intervene in the matter in case investments acquire a too large-scale nature. Tbilisi does not conceal (it is not clear what it should conceal) that the Abkhazian resort economy is a property of Georgia misappropriated by Abkhazian separatists. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Georgia says that all transactions will sooner or later become invalid. Incidentally, there is a main Tourism and Abkhazian Resorts Management in Tbilisi that is a part of the Abkhazian Government. This management collects information about tourist infrastructure of Abkhazia in order to get down to business as soon as the Abkhazian problem is settled. “To tell you the truth, the position of Tbilisi is of less interest to us. We do not have either official or formal relations” ? said Igor Akhba.
Despite it, Russia will not allow him to do it. Certainly, it is profitable to Russia if Russian businessmen will settle in Abkhazia quietly without any noise. However, it will spoil the accelerated situation even more. Thus, Jergenia’s offer will be met with benevolence, but with particular carefulness”. The Georgian party confines itself to making general statements. In this situation, we dare to call the statements a mystery. What else can we say with representatives of South Osetyan and Abkhazian governments arranging press-conferences in Moscow and the Osetyan party being ready to declare war on Georgia in order to help Abkhazia (so that they could privatise Gagra and Bichvin resorts). The matter does not concern Russian firms, but rather the fact that separatists are openly received by the official Russia.
Tamaz Nadareishvili
“The official Tbilisi made statements about the privatisation process in Abkhazia, but they are not sufficient. Stricter measures should have been taken. It is necessary to activate partisan movement”.
As it seems, the only way out is for investors to feel that Abkhazia still remains to be a “hot point”, and its economic interests are of no use. They must lose all wish for interests. Yet there is the second way out. The International law may become involved in the matter. The Georgian party must complain of the international organisations that took part in the privatisation process.
Tamaz Nadareishvili:
“Nowadays, all international organisations and all countries of the world have recognised territorial integrity of Georgia. Therefore, the lawsuit must be resolved in our favour”.
To Tamaz Nadareishvili’s mind, Abkhazia is mentioned only when there is a need to. Attitude to Abkhazian problems is different – some are interested in them, others are not. Some try not to create superfluous problems and difficulties. Georgia has no ideology for a country with lost territory so we can not demand anything from people.
It is a bit funny to think that sooner or later all agreements will become invalid. Abkhazia tries to become a state. Georgia will lose Abkhazia If the latter manages to implement economic reforms and improve population’s economic state. The Abkhazian party spread economic development programme on Russian sites, with privatisation of objects presented in a separate part.
Privatisation:
“It is necessary to single out a number of important aspects for the pursuance of single policy in the state property control and privatisation. This policy should be aimed at creating a layer of private proprietors that, in its turn, will serve to promote development of market economy and attract foreign investments. From this point of view, objects of republican and local propriety must be distributed in accordance with the possibilities of privatisation:
Objects privatisation of which is forbidden;
Objects and enterprises privatisation of which is implemented by the decision of the government of Abkhazian Republic;
Objects and enterprises that are subject to compulsory privatisation.
The first stage envisages for privatisation of objects:
Trade and catering;
Social service of population;
Housing stock and other buildings that were partly or completely destroyed during military actions in 1992-1993;
Incomplete construction.
The main purposes of privatisation process are:
Development of small and mid-size business;
Provision of new jobs;
Legal registration of the property of work collective and physical persons employed in the objects that are subject to privatisation;
Formation of a wide layer of private proprietors similar to economic foundation of market relations by means of involving a maximal number of population into the privatisation process;
Promotion of financial stabilisation;
Increase of the efficiency of enterprise work and economy of Abkhazian republic in general on the basis of performing its structural transformation.
The general use of small privatisation in case of its proper planning and execution consists in the following:
Development of trade sphere and domestic service, increase of public consumer goods;
Regulation of market relations in the average link of economy (small and mid-size business);
Increase of workplaces;
Expansion of external economic ties;
Increase of scale and dynamism of present private sector;
A wider distribution of private property and extra budgetary resources from privatisation;
Attraction of investment to production with foreign investments inclusively.
Regulation of privatisation processes by means of choosing ways for their implementation, which makes it possible for legal and natural persons to take part in them. It is also necessary to take into account interests of workers of non-production sphere and their participation in the privatisation process in the spheres where this part of population could use its potential more effectively. An enterprise must be sold by means of direct sale, competitions and auctions. The main source of budget revenues at different levels is privatisation, letting state property for rent as well as creation of joint stock companies and joint enterprises. It is necessary to consider the following in choosing ways of privatisation:
Buyer’s offer
Branch peculiarities of privatisation objects;
Social-economic importance of an enterprise for the state;
Assessment of authorised capital stock.
Distribution of privatisation funds between budgets of different levels must become one of the main terms of privatisation. They are necessary for the solution of current and nationwide problems. During the privatisation of objects and enterprises foreign investments must be used in the following way:
Provision of particular warrants for investors and investments by a state;
Benefits for foreign investors who invest funds in particular branches of national economy;
Participation of Abkhazian citizens in investment projects and enterprises with foreign investments.
During the privatisation, it is necessary to determine in which branches of economy a key role of state should be preserved, in which branches the state intends to cooperate with private entrepreneurs and which branches will become private. All this must be executed only on the basis of privatisation programme that maximally takes people’s opinion into account .
Presently, the Georgian party does it best to promote the economic development of Abkhazia, which once again testifies to the fact that Georgia will, probably, never regain this region. Little by little, Russian capital will be accumulated in Abkhazia. It is no secret to anybody that tourism works in a usual way in this region, though it does not yet reach the previous scales. Where before the number of holiday-makers in Abkhazia exceeded a million 15 years ago, now this figure reaches 25 thousands. With the present attitude of Georgian government towards Abkhazian problems, there is a danger that this figure will soon grow. We would like to inform the people who compose themselves by thinking that the previous figure will never be reached that such colossal figures are not at all necessary for Abkhazia. To illustrate this, we would like to offer a reader a small interview with a manager of travel firm “Rus expert”. The main direction of the firm’s work are Abkhazian resorts, namely, the famous Bichvin “Boxen woods”.
– Hello, I am Russian by nationality and a Georgian citizen. My family and I would like to have a holiday in Abkhazia. How can we organise this?
– Visa is not required for Russian citizens. As Abkhazia is a part of Georgia, in fact, you do need any visa.
– Could you provide us information about it? Does your firm offer customers a holiday in Abkhazian resorts?
– We send tourists from Russian territory, but, logically, you need no visa.
– What are the holiday costs for a family ? a husband, a wife and two children (10-12 years old). What will the holiday cost?
– You need four rooms or a lux. It costs 100 dollars per night.
– How safe is it to have a holiday in Abkhazia?
– You know, the travel firm can give no warrants of safety, but people have their holiday there without any problems.
– How long does your firm work?
– It has worked for a long time. We had holiday-makers last year, but they encountered no problems. The season has started for a long time already.
– Does your firm work in any other resorts other than Abkhazian ones?
– No, only in “Boxen woods”.