President of the Republic of Abkhazia

 

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13.12.2016


On December 13, President of the Republic of Abkhazia Raul Khadzhimba gave a speech in which he addressed the nation.

Dear citizens of Abkhazia!

The difficult year of 2016 is at an end. Thanks to your support, we have endured the world financial and economic crisis, and we have fulfilled our social obligations. We repay external and internal debts that amount to hundreds of millions of rubles and which were left to us. We also put in order the financial and the fiscal spheres, and we fight the shadow economy. We have proved that we are capable of finding our own financial reserves and of convincing the society that our well-being is in our own hands. We have achievements in the tourist and the banking spheres. The introduction of a treasury budget execution system led to a new level of transparency in the expenditure of public finances.

We know the real situation, and we understand that a lot remains to be done to significantly improve the people’s quality of life and to strengthen the state. We are ready to work on this.

Lately, the opposition forces have become active, and they have chosen to criticise our work without compromise. Often, this criticism is unjust and even offensive. No one can deny people the right to express their views, but within the framework of the law.

In every developed state, there should be a political struggle based on the competition of programs and ideas. We have presented such a program – it is expressed in my Address to the People’s Assembly-Parliament of the Republic of Abkhazia and other documents that contain specific suggestions on how to make changes necessary to the society.

The necessity to make reforms, including constitutional reforms, was declared by a social organisation “Aitaira” and other political organisations long before they came to power. However, their good intentions remained on paper, even though our opponents had a chance to implement them in the course of 10 years.

Together with a legislative branch of power, we have taken the first steps to reform the judiciary, to create the necessary legal base and to start forming the Constitutional court. On the whole, we have succeeded in improving the system of the training of judges, selection and periodic evaluation.

Legislative solutions to expand the rights and powers of local authorities have been adopted and implemented. I have made specific suggestions to the Parliament to change the electoral legislation. Big opportunities for common work and cooperation of all political powers have been created, in order to improve the legal base of new reforms.

I sincerely regret the fact that instead of giving a clear and constructive feedback on these suggestions, the opposition only continues to act in a way that increases confrontation.

Any extreme form of politics weakens us all, it lowers the creative energy of society and leaves people without faith in tomorrow. Elections to the People’s Assembly have been scheduled for March 12, 2017. It would be more sensible for the opposition and other political powers to concentrate on participating in the elections, instead of continuing their destructive actions. Normal political competition should not be confused with attempts to destabilise the situation.

Of course, a lot of questions still remain unsolved. We never concealed this, and we are ready to have an open dialogue. I am sure that with common efforts we will achieve significant improvements in the economic, social and other spheres. Our sincere efforts to make life in Abkhazia better is a guarantee of this. It cannot be otherwise.

The most important thing is that we should not allow the situation to become destabilised. We have a lot of work to do. The aims of the state cannot be achieved in conditions of instability and confrontation. It is clear that by creating instability, we harm the economic relations with Russia. The President of Russia Vladimir Putin said this on our recent meeting.

This is why I address you, dear citizens, with a request not to yield to provocations, to stay calm and not to support illegal actions, no matter who initiates them.

The state will continue to protect the stability and legal order, the rights and freedoms of our citizens. We will not allow an irreversible deterioration of the situation to a point that we are left without prospects of development. We have no other way. Only together and by respecting each other will we be able to build a prosperous future for our people.

As guarantor of the Constitution, I believe that it is my duty to preserve the sovereignty of the state, which was restored at the cost of great sacrifices, and the unity of our society. This is why I will do everything that is necessary to preserve law and order in our state and to ensure the security of our citizens.



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© 2015 Administration of the President of the Republic of Abkhazia, Sukhum, Naberezhnaya Makhadjirov, 32, phone.: +7 840 226 46 31, fax: +7 840 226 46 31
mail: info@presidentofabkhazia.org