Today, we have moved to a new format of cooperation with the parliament of Abkhazia, the Speaker of the Russian Duma, Vyacheslav Volodin, who arrived in occupied Abkhazia, said after the meeting with de facto parliament chairman Lasha Ashuba.

Accoing to Volodin, an "agreement" was signed on the interaction between the State Duma and the "parliament" of occupied Abkhazia.

According to him, they agreed that a meeting will be held in a few months, the agenda of which will be jointly established by the parties.

"These will be problematic topics that concern both Abkhazian and Russian citizens. We believe that friendship is a two-way road. As for development, it is possible only on the basis of trust. It is impossible to build trust without dialogue," said Volodin.

He called today's conversation with all "deputies" of Abkhazia's "parliament" in a closed format very useful.

"We have many things in common with Abkhazia - common history, culture, traditions, religion. We can speak the same language, and therefore, on the one hand, it is easier for us to develop relations, but on the other hand, it makes us very responsible," he said.

Speaking about the economic relations between Russia and Abkhazia, Volodin focused on the growth of trade, which he said is 41% more this year compared to last year.

"Abkhazia is one of the five most attractive states for Russian citizens in terms of tourism. Abkhazia ranks second after Turkey in terms of trips. It is the people's choice. People want to go to Abkhazia, the population of Abkhazia want to go to Russia. This obliges us a lot, so now it is extremely important and it is one of the main directions of our future work to deal with the issues of harmonization of legislation in the socio-economic sphere, to solve issues in the field of customs policy, tax legislation, social policy and other areas. Therefore, there is a lot to be done in the parliamentary context," said Volodin.

He noted that "such communication was organized for the first time" and he would be happy to come to Sokhumi again.

"It was a very sincere conversation, we started to understand each other better, we got to know each other through this discussion. If Lasha [chairman of the so-called parliament] invites us, we will be happy to come again," said Volodin.