Transcript:

Dmitry Medvedev: Mr Kadyrov, we just held the first meeting of the Government Commission on the Socio-Economic Development of the North Caucasus Federal District with all new members. I have come here precisely because the Chechen Republic has had the largest number of problems but is, at the same time, the fastest-growing Russian region in the North Caucasus. You showed me some of the facilities today, and we’ll see more later.

We spoke about the government programme today. I hope that is will become available soon. We also spoke about the tourism cluster. We just saw a presentation of your project. Allow me to reiterate: I will issue instructions regarding changing the governmental draft resolution to incorporate the Chechen Republic in the mountain tourism cluster. I believe that the development of tourism is currently the strongest unifying factor in the North Caucasus. I wish you luck in this line of work.

Ramzan Kadyrov: Mr Medvedev, thank you for coming and supporting our proposal to include the Chechen Republic in the tourism cluster of the North Caucasus Federal District. I am positive that we will do our best to make our mountain resort stand out from the rest in Russia.

With regard to the Chechen Republic, you, Mr Medvedev, have done a lot to resolve problems in our region. Praise be to Allah, today we… There are problems, but we are dealing with economic issues. Before, we were restoring our economy, and now we are dealing directly with economic issues. Nothing will come to pass without your support and the assistance of the Russian government. Therefore, I would like to thank you for your support, which means 2,000 new jobs to us. Investors are looking for a safe place to invest their money and are closely following the developments in Chechnya. If the word is out that we are building resorts, promoting sport and tourism, then things will look brighter for us.

You asked me about the latest developments in our republic. We had torrential rain lately, and over 100,000 people were left without gas and electricity for two days; 120 households had to be relocated from the flooded area. Several houses were destroyed, 96 properties were flooded and several kilometres of gas and power lines were damaged. One road bridge and two pedestrian bridges were destroyed.

We resumed power supply in full and are now busy repairing gas supply lines. The situation remains critical with water levels still high in the Sunzha. The highest mark we ever had before was at 5.6 metres, whereas today it’s at 6 metres. Last year, we built strong river bank reinforcements in downtown Grozny, and the city wasn’t damaged at all. Things are worse in rural areas. We get this information from the Emergency Ministry and municipal heads. We will do our best to help them. If we ever need help from the federal government, we will apply in writing. Thank you, Mr Medvedev.

Dmitry Medvedev: Good. It’s very important that you are on top of things. Indeed, many people were left without electricity. As I understand, electricity supplies have been resumed. We should now focus on rebuilding the infrastructure, bridges and roads. If needed, we will help you to do so. Agreed.