Russia’s electricity trader, Inter RAO, and authorities of breakaway Abkhazia said on January 20 that they were looking for “models of cooperation” that would also envisage investments in the region’s energy sector.
Chairman of Inter RAO, Yevgeny Dod, visited Sokhumi and held talks with the Abkhaz leadership on January 20. A day earlier Abkhaz leader, Sergey Bagapsh, said he was “bewildered” over a memorandum signed between Georgia and Inter RAO over joint management of Enguri hydro power plant.
After the meeting with Inter RAO chairman, Bagapsh reiterated that energy facilities, including the Enguri HPP’s generators, which were located on the Abkhaz territory, were under the Abkhaz state ownership, the Abkhaz news agency, Apsnipress, reported.
Yevgeny Dod told journalists in Sokhumi after meeting with the Abkhaz officials that the memorandum signed with Georgia in late December was not a legally binding document.
“Various approaches are discussed there [in the memorandum], because we are working with both Abkhazia and Georgia on the matter,” Apsnipress reported quoting the chairman of Inter RAO. “We are trying to find a model, which will be appropriate first of all to the energy sector.”
“Energy sectors of Abkhazia and Georgia represent two different parallel processes. We are working here [in Sokhumi], as well as there [in Tbilisi] and we are discussing various forms of cooperation. The memorandum itself does not envisage anything concrete,” Dod said. “We are trying to find a compromise without infringing interests of the parties; you will see further developments after we agree with our Abkhaz colleagues about the model of our joint work.”
Head of the Abkhaz state-run energy company Chernomorenergo, Rezo Zantaria, said after the meeting that the Abkhaz energy sector was in need of investments.
“At this stage we are only discussing proposals and this is a long process,” Apsnipress reported quoting Zantaria. “We have not yet defined a model of our cooperation.”
He also said that it was agreed to set up a joint group with Inter RAO, which would study the condition of the region’s energy sector to define “what amount of investments will be required.”
The chairman of Inter RAO said that the Abkhaz energy sector was “good and interesting business… So for us this is very interesting project.”