On July 13, Russian President Vladimir Putin held a working meeting with the Head of the Kabardino-Balkaria Republic Kazbek Kokov. The socio-economic situation in the region was discussed, including the state of affairs in the labor market, as well as in industry, agriculture, construction, and tourism, the Kremlin’s Press Service reported.

When asked how things are in the republic, Kokov replied: “Everything is fine, Vladimir Vladimirovich [Putin]. The situation is stable." According to Kokov, about 1.5 million square meters of housing have been put into operation in three years, and another 5.5 are planned to be commissioned by 2030. Over the previous year, the growth was more than 18%.

Among the problems, he named problems in the labor market. "Today, this is one problematic issue. Another problematic issue: after all, we have not reached the desired level of remuneration for workers. Here we are a little behind. Not the best figure in the region – 551 euros. Although there is a growth of 106%, we do not achieve results in real terms,” he said.

Kokov also reported that in 2021 the gross regional product amounted to 3.5 billion euros, and investments amounted to 888 million euros. “If we take the budget for 2021, this is 52 billion roubles [904 million euros], of which 13.7 are our revenues. Here we have serious growth: if we take relative to 2018, this is almost 150%. The trend continues into 2022. According to the results of six months, own incomes have a 115% growth - this is about 3.7 billion roubles [64 million euros] for 2021,” said the head of the federal republic. “As for wages, as I said, this figure is not so high today and not the best indicator in the region - 31,712 roubles [551 euros]. Although there is a growth of 106 percent, we do not achieve results in real terms,” he underlined. “The republic has crossed the bar of a million tourists for the first time since last year. Today, this trend continues: according to the results of six months, we already have 550,000 tourists, which is about a 6% increase compared to last year,” Kokov noted. The volume of investments in the tourism sector will amount to 14.5 billion roubles [252 million euros] by 2025.

“In terms of industry, I would like to note one of the significant projects for Kabardino-Balkaria - this is the resumption of mining of tungsten-molybdenum ores at the Tyrnyauz deposit. Vladimir Vladimirovich, then you supported the republic's leadership, gave certain instructions, and work began; everything is going according to the road map. Alexander Valentinovich Novak visited the facility; today, we are building the infrastructure. The total investment for this project will amount to 55 billion roubles [956 million euros], of which 46 billion [800 million euros] are investments in projects in the Kabardino-Balkaria Federal Republic,” said Kokov. "I think this trend will continue as we increase the establishment of perennials. A serious project in agriculture with a volume of 18 billion [313 million euros] investments in the closed ground has already begun - we have started, we are implementing it," Kokov said.

Putin was also interested in how the republic fits into the national projects.

“If we take the amounts: from 2019 to 2021, 20 billion roubles [340 million euros] were sent to the republic to implement social projects, such as the construction of schools and preschool education. Today, we have built 50 preschool education facilities and will authorize three more this year. By 2022 alone, the amount will be 12 billion roubles [208 million euros] for national projects... Today, six schools have been built. In 2022, we are already building ten, and in 2023 we are starting eight more. By 2024, we will build 24 new schools - 10% of the total number of schools in the republic will be new ones. Moreover, accordingly, we are actively involved in the overhaul program: we are building 50 facilities. We have over 20,000 children who went to schools, let us say, that do not quite meet the requirements, and we are actively involved. I am sure that by 2024 we will close the issue of secondary education's material and technical support," the head of the KBR assured.