In an attempt to promote investment in the breakaway region, Sergey Bagapsh, the Abkhaz leader, is participating in an investment forum, which opened in Russia’s Black Sea city of Sochi on September 20.

“This is an important venue wherein investment projects will be discussed in the context of the [2014] Sochi Winter Olympic Games,” Bagapsh's press office quoted him as saying. “For Abkhazia, which has already declared its wish to partake in these projects, participation in the forum is very important.”

Bagapsh is accompanied in Sochi by the minister of economy, Konstantin Ozgan, the head of the tourism department, Tengiz Lakerbaia and the chief of the Abkhaz energy company ChernoMorEnergo, Rezo Zantaria.

The investment forum in Sochi is a high-profile event which, according to Russian news agencies, will bring together about 10,000 business and political figures from all over the world.