The Yuzhnaya Ossetiya newspaper reports about the formation of a joint working group of ISouth Ossetia and Russia to collaborate in developing an alliance and integration treaty. South Ossetia took a preliminary version of the document composed by Russia on January 21 for further discussions. Gana Yanovskaya, spokeswoman of the South Ossetian president, noted that the military-political situation in the world required coordination and formation of a common defense contour and legal fundamentals. The South Ossetian alliance and integration treaty will serve as the basic document. The spokeswoman expressed regret that many public figures over-politicized the issue and used it for their own gains, exploiting public emotions and sentiment. The newspaper says that leaders of parliamentary parties and non-parliamentary parties (Fidan, Fydybasta, Communist Party) emphasized the need for a new agreement and intensification of cooperation with Russia at a round-table conference. Leader of the United Ossetia Party Anatoly Bibilov advocated maximum possible integration with Russia and a merger of the two countries. In his opinion, the cooperation parameters fixed in the alliance and strategic partnership treaty of Russia and Abkhazia signed in November 2014 were not sufficient for South Ossetia and its long-term interests. Leader of the People’s Unity Party Vladimir Kelekhsayev expects the treaty to improve the standards of living in South Ossetia.
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Abkhaz President Raul Khajimba has recently ordered immediate constitutional reforms, the Respublika Abkhazia newspaper reports. “Throughout the year, we need to work in three directions. Firstly, realize the reform on redistribution of power between the president and the parliament. Secondly, create new principles of parliament formation, because the existing approach to the process has become outdated; at the same time, we need to reconsider the law on political parties. Thirdly, we need to realize the reforms in the formation and work of self-governance structures because the structures of power are impersonalized,” the president said. Chairman of the CEC Batal Tabagua reminded that Abkhazia was using a majority voting system: “We are building a small Abkhaz state, and our national interests in the parliament should not be supplanted by new parties that could appear tomorrow under the financial support of some oligarchs. Thus, we may encounter nationalistic parties that achieve certain results with money and disappear tomorrow.”
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Georgian Deputy Minister for Economy and Sustainable Development Irma Kavtaradze said that the name of the consortium that would build the deep-water Port Anaklia (West Georgia) will be announced in September 2015, News Georgia reports. 7 out of 12 companies interested in the project have been selected, one of them will be picked in September. A governmental commission asked the selected companies to present additional offers on April 16. Then, 2-3 companies will be chosen for negotiations and presentations of their final proposals on realization of the port construction. In Kavtaradze’s words, the construction of the port will start in June 2016. The cargo turnover at the port will total at least 100 million tons a year. The construction will be accomplished in several phases, according to stages of the port’s capacity. As soon as the cargo turnover reaches 90% of the port’s capacity, the company will start the next construction stage. Hence, the exact terms of the construction have not been set in the interest of the investor. The Georgian government announced a tender for the construction of multifunctional Port Anaklia in August 2014. The commission studying bids for the tender is headed by Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili. A logistical and industrial zone will be developed, an international airport and a liquefied gas terminal will be built in Anaklia.
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Dagestan wants its image potential to become the basis for development of its economy, industrial, cultural and social infrastructure, Dagestanskaya Pravda reports. Dagestani Minister for Press and Information Aznaur Ajiyev has noted that the number of articles about the republic and visits to local information resources had grown 3-fold, reaching 9 million visits a year. The RIA Dagestan website is the most popular in the NCFD. In 2014, over 70 federal journalists and popular bloggers all over the country took part in press tours around cities and districts of the republic.
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The population of Kabardino-Balkaria may now find information about the price of medical services they receive. A joint order of the Kabardino-Balkarian Healthcare Ministry and the Territorial Fund of Compulsory Medical Insurance on implementation of the system to inform insured individuals about the cost of their medical aid in Kabardino-Balkaria consists of 54 medical organizations (polyclinics, district and city hospitals, dispensaries). The said medical centers will be obliged to present notes with costs of medical services to patients, the Kabardino-Balkarskaya Pravda newspaper reports. The ministry and the Territorial Fund assume that the new system will give the population an impartial insight into costs of medical assistance within the framework of the territorial program for compulsory medical insurance and discourage corruption. It will also improve quality and access to medical services. Healthcare minister Irma Shetova noted that the republic was implementing new types of expensive specialized and high-tech medical services requiring high financing, expensive implants and materials. In her words, a patient has the right to know their medical expenditures.
