Kanokov re-appointed

Arsen Kanokov has been appointed to the position of the head of Kabardino-Balkaria for a second time by President Dmitry Medvedev with the support of the republic’s parliament and the president’s authorised envoy to the North Caucasian District, Alexander Khloponin, who named Kabardino-Balkaria the “point where the region’s prosperity begins”.
All the heads of the North Caucasian republics, as well as those of Abkhazia and South Ossetia, attended the inauguration. In his speech, the Karachay-Cherkess leader, Boris Yebzeyev, highly estimated the achievements of his colleague, Mr Kanokov, and pointed out the positive role of Mr Khloponin’s efforts as well. The Dagestani leader, Magomedsalam Magomedov, stressed the importance of Kabardino-Balkaria as a major cultural and scientific centre of the North  Caucasus.
Mr Khloponin, who also attended the ceremony, expressed his gratitude to all the high-ranking figures who chose to attend the inauguration. According to him, this gathering is a good illustration of the positive changes in attitude of the North Caucasian republics towards
each other. The region is no longer ‘the territory of inter-confessional and inter-ethnic conflicts’, said the  Plenipotentiary Envoy of the President. In his turn, Abkhaz President Sergey Bagapsh declared that Russia is and always has been the one common home for all North Caucasian peoples.
Experts, however, forecast hard times for Mr Kanokov, as the republic is still facing serious economic and social problems and has to compete for federal investment with other republics of the District.
Mr Kanokov and his team have already proposed one possible solution to the problem at the International Investment Forum ‘Sochi-2010’. Their project to build a polymer plant requires 12 billion roubles to be launched. In the framework of the Forum, the Kabardino-Balkarian
leader signed a partnership agreement with the Governor of Krasnoyarsk Territory (in the Siberian Federal District) on the exchange of common goods such as food supplies or machinery. Mr Kanokov also signed an agreement with the Inter-regional Distribution Network Company, dealing in the energy sector.

Pavel Martynov, exclusively to VK.