France, Dagestan sign agreement on hydropower plants

PARIS, November 30 (Itar-Tass) - Officials from France and Russia’s republic of Dagestan signed on Thursday an investment agreement on the construction of a cascade of small hydroelectric power stations in the Caucasus.

Representatives of the biggest energy corporation Electricite de France and the Mecamidi company signed the agreement from the French side.

“This agreement is extremely important,” Russian president’s envoy to the Southern Federal District, Dmitry Kozak, told Tass.

“This is a real example, when we don’t just try to prove that it is possible to work and live in the Caucasus,” he stressed. “Now the concrete French investor has studied the situation, took a closer look at Russia, found out on what conditions it can work there, signed a concrete agreement and will invest in the project,” noted Kozak, who also participated in the signing ceremony.

“There are a lot of other preconditions for signing agreements on other similar projects. I can say that the leadership of Dagestan is working rather efficiently in that sphere,” the envoy stressed.

“We hope this process will have a future,” he added. “We, on our part, must supply all investors with true information, without sugaring up the facts,” Kozak said.

“However, it is high time to get rid of false stereotypes - that there are only acts of terrorism and danger for life in Caucasian republics,” he emphasized. “This is not true, and the situation at the present day is much calmer than some people in the West think,” the envoy added.

Kozak also said that favorable conditions exist for the realization of the project in Dagestan, as electricity in the region is in high demand.

The construction of hydroelectric power plants in North Ossetia, the Krasnodar region and in Karachayevo-Cherkessia with the help of the French side is also possible in the future, Kozak said.