Abkhazian officials seek support for its recognition

Sukhum/Agency Caucasus – The capital city of Russia, Moscow, hosts senior officials from Abkhazia, a de facto independent country in continual search of international recognition of itself as fully independent, just like Kosovo appears to be in line for international recognition of its independence.  

Three senior Abkhazian officials, namely President Sergei Bagapsh, Prime Minister Aleksandr Ankvab and Minister of Finance Beslan Kubrav, have been in Moscow since Saturday.

These three senior Abkhazian officials were stated to be in Moscow for business. However, political analysts tend to think that this official trip will be largely about the implications of a previous statement by Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, who said just days before the trip that the Russian administration had not revealed any signs of future recognition of both Abkhazia and South Ossetia in retaliation for Kosovo’s proclamation of its independence. 

For Kristian Bjaniya, who is the official conveys the Abkhazian President’s messages to the press, the talks between the three senior Abkhazian officials and their counterparts in Moscow are about education, health care and regional development, especially that which concerns the eastern Abkhazia that was worst hit by the ’92-’93 war between Georgia and Abkhazia: "The Abkhazian prime minister will himself monitor the stage of work about the regional development," said Bjaniya.

Abkhazia hosted on January 15 and 16 a series of conferences on two separate occasions, the first one of which was about the holiday resorts in Caucasus, and the second one of which was about new methods of architecture that could be made use of in re-structuring the post-war Abkhazia. Members of the Russian Association for Architects also attended these conferences. KU/ÖZ/FT