This article needs to be updated.(October 2021) |
The economy of Abkhazia is heavily integrated with the economy of Russia and uses the Russian ruble as its currency.
Currency | Russian Ruble |
---|---|
Statistics | |
GDP | $439.6M (2020) |
GDP per capita | $1,795 (2020) |
All values, unless otherwise stated, are in US dollars. |
Abkhazia has experienced a modest economic upswing since the 2008 South Ossetia war and Russia's subsequent recognition of Abkhazia's independence. In 2011, about half of Abkhazia's state budget was financed with aid money from Russia. [1] In 2021 43.6% of Abkhazia's state budget was financed by aid money from Russia, while 56.4% of the budget came from local income.
Tourism is a key industry and, according to Abkhazian authorities, almost a million tourists (mainly from Russia) came to Abkhazia in 2007. [2] Since Abkhazia and Russia have signed a visa-free travel agreement, Russian passport-holders do not require a visa to enter Abkhazia. Holders of European Union passports require an Entry Permit Letter issued by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Sukhumi, against which a visa will be issued upon presentation of the Letter to the Ministry. [3]
Abkhazian railway is a rail operator in Abkhazia. Under a monopoly agreement, it is fully managed and partially owned by Russian Railways for a ten year contract from 2009-2019. In 2016, 307,748 people traveled between Abkhazia and Russia by rail. [4] There is also the New Athos Cave Railway, an underground electric railroad serving the New Athos Cave in the town of New Athos.
Sukhumi Babushara Airport is the main airport of Abkhazia, located some 20 kilometres (12 mi) from Sukhumi.
Abkhazia's fertile land and abundance of agricultural products, including tea, tobacco, wine and fruits (especially tangerines), have secured a relative stability in the sector.
Electricity is largely supplied by the Inguri hydroelectric power station located on the Inguri River between Abkhazia and Georgia proper and operated jointly by Abkhaz and Georgians.
The exports and imports in 2006 were 627.2 and 3,270.2 million rubles respectively (appx. 22 and 117 million. US dollars) according to the Abkhazian authorities. [5]
In July 2012, the State Customs Committee for the first time published trade statistics. It reported that in the first half of 2012, imports had been worth 6.748 and exports 1.48 billion ruble, resulting in a 4.6518 billion ruble trade deficit. At the same time, while imports had stayed virtually the same (decreasing by 0.2%), exports had risen by 25.8%. Abkhazia's main trading partners were Russia (64%), Turkey (18%), the Baltic states (5%), Moldova (2%), Germany (2%), Ukraine (1%) and China (1%). [6]
Many[ quantify ] Russian entrepreneurs and some Russian municipalities have invested or plan to invest in Abkhazia. This includes the Moscow municipality after the former Mayor of Moscow, Yury Luzhkov (in office 1992–2010), signed an agreement on economic cooperation between Moscow and Abkhazia. [7] Both Abkhazian and Russian officials announced intentions to exploit Abkhazia's facilities and resources for the Olympic construction projects in Sochi in the run-up to that city hosting the 2014 Winter Olympics. The government of Georgia warned against such actions, however, [8] and threatened to ask foreign banks to close the accounts of Russian companies and of individuals buying assets in Abkhazia. [9]
The CIS economic sanctions imposed on Abkhazia in 1996 formally remain in force, although Russia announced on 6 March 2008 that it would no longer participate in them, declaring them "outdated, impeding the socio-economic development of the region, and causing unjustified hardship for the people of Abkhazia". Russia also called on other CIS members to undertake similar steps, [10] but met with protests from Tbilisi and with lack of support from the other CIS countries. [11]
The European Union has allocated more than €20 million to Abkhazia since 1997 for various humanitarian projects, including the support of civil society, economic rehabilitation, help to the most vulnerable households and confidence-building measures. The EU's single largest project involves the repair and reconstruction of the Inguri power station. [12]
In April 2011, the government of Georgia summoned the Israeli ambassador for clarifications over an Israeli visit to Abkhazia and AP reported that the Israeli ambassador officially denied that Israel would provide arms to Abkhazia. [13]
According to a 2007 report by US-based organisation Freedom House, the region continues to suffer considerable economic problems owing to widespread corruption, the control by criminal organisations of large segments of the economy, and the continuing effects of the war. [14]
Sergei Uasyl-ipa Bagapsh was an Abkhaz politician who served as the second President of Abkhazia from 12 February 2005 until his death on 29 May 2011. He previously served as Prime Minister of Abkhazia from 1997 to 1999. He was re-elected in the 2009 presidential election. Bagapsh's term as prime minister included the 1998 war with Georgia, while he oversaw both the recognition of Abkhazia by Russia and the Russo-Georgian War during his presidency.
Politics in Abkhazia is dominated by its conflict with Georgia. Abkhazia became de facto independent from Georgia after the 1992–1993 war, but its de jure independence has only been recognised by a few other countries. Abkhazia is a presidential representative democratic republic with a multi-party system, wherein the President is both head of state and head of government. Executive power is exercised by the government of the Republic of Abkhazia. Legislative power is vested in both the government and the People's Assembly of Abkhazia.
The Abkhazia conflict is a territorial dispute over Abkhazia, a region on the eastern coast of the Black Sea in the South Caucasus, at the intersection of Eastern Europe and Western Asia. The conflict involves Georgia, Russian Federation and Russian-backed self-proclaimed Republic of Abkhazia, internationally recognised only by Russia, Venezuela, Nicaragua, Nauru, and Syria; Georgia and all other United Nations members consider Abkhazia a sovereign territory of Georgia. However, as of 2023, Georgia lacks de facto control over the territory.
The Community for Democracy and Rights of Nations, also commonly and colloquially known as the Commonwealth of Unrecognized States, rarely as CIS-2, is an international organization in Eastern Europe and the South Caucasus of three breakaway states in the territory of the former Soviet Union, all of which have limited to no recognition from the international community.
Russia and Georgia have had relations for centuries. The contacts between the two date back to the 15th and 16th centuries, and the most important stage started in the 1580s, when the Georgian kingdom of Kakheti and the Russian Empire signed a treaty of alliance in 1587. Since then, Georgia–Russia relations have been developing vibrantly and culminated in the Treaty of Georgievsk, which established eastern Georgia as a protectorate of Russia. At that time, Georgia saw Russia as a powerful Christian and modernizing neighbor, capable of protecting Georgia from invading Muslim empires and North Caucasian raiders.
The history of Abkhazia, a region in the South Caucasus, spans more than 5,000 years from its settlement by the lower-paleolithic hunter-gatherers to its present status as a partially recognized state.
The War in Abkhazia was fought between Georgian government forces for the most part and Abkhaz separatist forces, Russian government armed forces and North Caucasian militants between 1992 and 1993. Ethnic Georgians who lived in Abkhazia fought largely on the side of Georgian government forces. Ethnic Armenians and Russians within Abkhazia's population largely supported the Abkhazians and many fought on their side. The separatists received support from thousands of North Caucasus and Cossack militants and from the Russian Federation forces stationed in and near Abkhazia.
The Republic of Abkhazia is a partially recognized state in the South Caucasus which declared independence from Georgia during the War in Abkhazia (1992–1993). At the time, the Soviet Union had recently collapsed (1991).
Abkhazian railway is a rail operator in the partially recognised state of Abkhazia. Under a monopoly agreement, it is fully managed and partially owned by Russian Railways for a ten year contract from 2009-2019.
The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to Abkhazia:
An international diplomatic crisis between Georgia and Russia began in 2008, when Russia announced that it would no longer participate in the Commonwealth of Independent States economic sanctions imposed on Abkhazia in 1996 and established direct relations with the separatist authorities in Abkhazia and South Ossetia. The crisis was linked to the push for Georgia to receive a NATO Membership Action Plan and, indirectly, the unilateral declaration of independence by Kosovo.
Abkhazia, officially the Republic of Abkhazia, is a partially recognised state in the South Caucasus, on the eastern coast of the Black Sea, at the intersection of Eastern Europe and Western Asia. It covers 8,665 square kilometres (3,346 sq mi) and has a population of around 245,000. Its capital and largest city is Sukhumi.
Abkhazia–South Ossetia relations are bilateral foreign relations between the Republic of Abkhazia and the Republic of South Ossetia, whose international status is disputed – they are both considered part of Georgia by the majority of the world's states.
The Sochi agreement was a ceasefire agreement ostensibly marking the end of both the Georgian–Ossetian and Georgian–Abkhazian conflicts, signed in Sochi on June 24, 1992 between Georgia and Russia, the ceasefire with Abkhazia on July 27, 1993.
Igor Muratovich Akhba is an Abkhaz diplomat and politician. From 2008 until 2021 he was the first ambassador of the Republic of Abkhazia to the Russian Federation, and in 2004 he was for a short time the Minister for Foreign Affairs of his country.
Christianity is a main religion in Abkhazia. The history of introduction of Christianity in the present-day Abkhazia can be traced to the 1st century and in 325 the bishop of Pityus participated in the First Ecumenical Council in Nicaea. Since the late 9th century, the Orthodox dioceses of Abkhazia were subordinated to the Georgian Orthodox Church, later functioning there as the Catholicosate of Abkhazia.
Abkhazia–Venezuela relations refers to bilateral relations between the breakaway Republic of Abkhazia and Venezuela. Venezuela recognised Abkhazia, along with South Ossetia, on 10 September 2009, almost ten years after the country declared independence from Georgia in 1999. Venezuela was the third state to recognise Abkhazia and South Ossetia, after Russia and Nicaragua.
The Abkhazian Orthodox Church is an Eastern Orthodox church outside the official Eastern Orthodox ecclesiastical hierarchy. It came into existence when the Sukhumi-Abkhazian Eparchy declared on 15 September 2009 that it no longer considered itself part of the Georgian Orthodox Church and that it was "re-establishing the Catholicate of Abkhazia disbanded in 1795". Vissarion Aplaa is the Primate of the Abkhazian Orthodox Church since 2009 and is the self-proclaimed catholicos of the Church. It has two eparchies (dioceses) in Pitsunda and Sukhumi and is organized in 9 parishes.
Visitors to the Republic of Abkhazia must obtain an entry permit unless they are citizens of one of the visa-exempt countries. All visitors must have a passport valid for at least 6 months.
Moscow Mayor Yuri Luzhkov will visit Abkhazia on Friday in order to hand over humanitarian aid and sign an agreement on food supplies to the former Georgian republic, an Abkhaz presidential spokesman said.
Israel's ambassador to Georgia says his country has no intention to supply weapons to Georgia's separatist province of Abkhazia. Ambassador Yitzhak Gerberg made a statement Friday following a visit to Abkhazia earlier this week by representatives of an Israeli security firm.
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