During the meeting, various issues of concern to the population of the republic were discussed. Members of the Public Chamber were interested in the president's opinion on energy and uninterrupted supply of electricity to the population, regulation of cryptocurrency mining, harmonization of the legislation of Abkhazia and Russia, the common socio-economic space of Abkhazia and Russia, oil production, state support for agriculture, employment of young specialists, optimization of personnel state institutions, measures to combat coronavirus, the resumption of the educational process, etc. 

At the very beginning of his speech to the members of the Public Chamber,  President focused on the need to ensure reliable military security in the light of the recent military events in Nagorno-Karabakh. 

“Taking into account the fact that we do not have a peace treaty with Georgia, and it still considers Abkhazia its territory and a significant number of states are in solidarity with it, the issue of military security comes to the fore. Yesterday I went to our military units. And I don't even know how to express what I saw there. In this regard, a lot of work lies ahead. This is the most difficult area of ​​government activity. You probably remember well the events of 2008 in the South Caucasus. Russia's recognition of Abkhazia and South Ossetia has global implications. Strengthening our alliance, first of all, a military one and the creation of a single territory for defense security comes to the fore. This peace will have to be paid for, this peace needs to be maintained, keeping an armed man is not a cheap measure, ” Aslan Bzhania said. 

President told the PC members that about 500 million rubles have been spent on the fight against coronavirus infection in Abkhazia. Practically all expenses for the treatment of patients in hospitals are provided by the state. 

“Sometimes it happens that relatives buy some drugs that are not currently available in the hospital, but most of the costs are provided by the state,” Bzhania said. 

Vitaly Smyr, Deputy Secretary of the Public Chamber, believes that the country needs serious optimization of personnel. 

“Let's take parliament, for example. The fourth convocation of parliament needed three official cars to do its job, and today it is a whole fleet of vehicles. If we calculate the cost of gasoline, then they will be enough at least to pay our pensioners a pension for at least one month. And this applies not only to the parliament, but also to other state structures. In general, I think that 15 deputies in the parliament of Abkhazia are quite enough for us. It is necessary to expand the electoral districts, the choice will be better. Professionals should work in parliament. Let 15 people work. If necessary, we will invite specialists to the sessions, as it was in the Soviet time. We need to try to save our money, which is earned with difficulty, " - said Smyr. 

Aslan Bzhania partly agreed with the point of view of Vitaly Smyr: “I also think that the state in the budgetary sphere is inflated. I can judge this by the President’s Office. We have not made any changes to the staffing table of the Office yet, but we will definitely do it. Our colleagues, Russian specialists, think the same, taking into account the fact that our budgetary sphere is largely financed by them. Nobody likes redundancies, but we will have to do it, and I hope the Public Chamber will support us. This will apply to everyone without exception. " 

According to Bzhania, this issue was also raised in Moscow, since Russia co-finances the increase in wages for the main categories of public sector workers and allocates a billion rubles for this purpose. 

“Responsible persons for the Abkhazian direction in Moscow are analyzing our tariff and personnel nets. I think that in the near future we will have to cut 5% of public sector employees,” the head of state noted. 

Vitaly Smyr spoke in favor of a partial resumption of the scientific process, since it will be very difficult to make up for what has already been missed in the curriculum. “By your order, all schools are closed, and we understand what this is connected with. But our future is our children. The Ministry of Education should approach the educational process in a differentiated manner. It is necessary to continue studying at least in villages where there are a small number of children in schools. If, for example, there are up to 10 children in a class, why shouldn't they go to school, observing all sanitary standards. It is clear that these measures are necessary in Sukhum, there are many students in the capital, but even here you can draw up a schedule and go to school in groups, ” said Vitaliy Smyr and asked President to consider this issue.

Touching upon the issues of agriculture, President told the members of the Public Chamber that the First Deputy Minister of Agriculture of the Russian Federation Dzhambulat Khatuov recently visited Abkhazia. 

“He knows our capabilities well and what needs to be done. Now we are working on a program, which should reflect a set of measures to improve the efficiency of the agricultural sector of the economy. We will receive serious assistance in the implementation of specific projects. We are talking about technical equipment, the acquisition of traction power and attachments, chemicals for the fight against insect pests, breeding material, training of specialists and finance. The main thing is that we choose the right projects. We have many examples in agriculture when we invested money, but there are no results. We remember the 1,300 hectares of orchards that were laid out in 2011-2012 some of them are lost. The Ministry of Agriculture will work in a targeted manner to interest our villagers. We will help but we need people who want to really work, ” Bzhania said. 

According to President, potential investors are showing interest in greenhouses. 

“There is still the problem of honey. We have a lot of honey, but we have nowhere to put it. We have built a plant for packing honey, which seems to be good, but it does not work, ” President said and promised to ultimately solve this problem. 

President was asked how expedient it is to extract oil in Abkhazia and what risks to the environment might be. 

“For example, I don’t know if we have oil or not. It is necessary to conduct appropriate research, to calculate the feasibility of its industrial production. There are several intelligence techniques. You must first find oil, find out its quality, and then it will be clear what to do next. Oil exploration and production agreements were signed in 2014 and 2018. I will be consistent in this matter and do not intend to terminate any contracts. The time will come, and we will see what is spelled out there and what it gives us. There was created a commission in the Parliament, it was supposed to work out this issue and present its conclusions. But so far this has not happened. The state is obliged to take into account the interests of its population. This is not a product from which all income will go into the pocket of one official. We will look how other states work with this, what environmental consequences, and most importantly, what the economic effect can be, ” President noted.