Transcript of the beginning of the meeting:

Vladimir Putin: My counterpart and I have already talked. Unfortunately, we are meeting on this sad occasion. But this is life. Life goes on no matter what, and the government fulfils a number of important functions for the economy and in terms of solving social problems. Our inter-governmental commission which has been very productive held its latest meeting in Sochi. Many economic revival objectives have to be addressed, and various tasks accomplished. We have noted the need to restore the infrastructure, primarily railways, motor roads, the resumption of air traffic, sea navigation and reliable ties with Russian ports.

We are confident that relations between Russia and Abkhazia will continue to get stronger in every respect. We will continue to assist in your international contacts with all states, including your nearest neighbours.  

Time will heal all wounds. Hopefully, the people of Abkhazia and Georgia will establish an amicable relationship. At any rate, I have already told the Vice President that you can count on Russia’s support. As you know, the Russian budget includes the relevant allocations, over 10 billion roubles, in the short-term. Not only are we ready to implement the current plans with the help of such funding, but we are willing to assess opportunities for implementing other large-scale projects. We will continue to work at this.

Sergei Shamba: Thank you, Mr Putin. First of all, I would like to thank you for your attention and for the Russian Government’s attention. I saw the organisation of the funeral ceremonies in Moscow. I flew there in connection with this tragic news. We received such tremendous personal, moral and psychological support. We were very impressed with the way all this was organised. This has been a vivid and emphatic display of your special attitude towards Abkhazia and, of course, towards Sergei Bagapsh.

But any Abkhazian citizen who saw the Prime Minister fly here also felt this way. Of course, this is very significant for Abkhazian society. Unfortunately, this is related to a tragic event. But, as you have noted, we still have to accomplish many other important objectives. We will do this with Russia’s support. This support implies an Abkhazian economic revival. We have made some headway in this field, and we will continue to cooperate along the same lines. On behalf of Abkhazia, I head the inter-governmental commission. Minister of Regional Development Viktor Basargin and I maintain regular contact. This is resulting in substantial support to Abkhazia.

I wish you could be here under happier circumstances. But we hope that you will also visit us on other significant occasions. Right now, we plan to open the first stage of the restored railway. But we put off the ceremony initially scheduled for June 2, due to Bagapsh’s death. We have some major well-planned projects. We have even submitted them to Russia’s Vnesheconombank, and they are, for example, interested in completely renovating the Pitsunda resort.

I would like to mention the “New Village” project. A similar project is currently being implemented in the Ulyanovsk Region. We intend to move ahead with a similar project here, in Abkhazia. The agreement was signed at the 2010 economic forum held here. This project, stipulating the construction of an alpine ski resort, is quite ambitious by Abkhazian standards. There are some other projects as well. Vnesheconombank is ready to finance all this, if you provide support. This will also help the process.

Vladimir Putin: We will now discuss this in greater detail.