Kyrgyzstan republic intends to cooperate with China’s Kyrgyz region

The businessmen of the republic of Kyrgyzstan opened the new channel for the development of the economic and commercial links with China. Their Chinese compatriots (the people of Kyrgyz nationality, living in China, there is even a separate region in China – Kyzyl-Sui) will become their partners. The official delegation of that region has recently been to Kyrgyzstan capital Bishkek.

Imam Namet, the head of the delegation from the Kyrgyz region of China, told journalists that their region was planning to open the representative offices in Bishkek this year. Furthermore, there have been all issues settled pertaining to the air communication between Kyrgyzstan and China.

As it turned out, the commercial cooperation between the two regions, inhabited by the people of the Kyrgyz nationality, started last year, when the official delegation from Bishkek visited the Kyzyl-Sui autonomous region of China. The Chinese side evinced its great interest in the coal of the Alay deposit. For a start the Kyrgyz people of China purchased 700 thousand tons of coal and found it was very good quality. So there was an idea to purchase up to 200 or 300 thousand tons of coal a year. The coal reserves of the Alay region allow to meet that demand.

Pursuant to the terms of the contract, China will deliver all the necessary coal-mining equipment to Kyrgyzstan and the equipment will remain on the territory of the republic, when the contract is over. Some 1.5 tons of coal are expected to be shipped to China during the period of five years. A lot of people will get the jobs, which is also a very relevant subject, especially against the background of the high unemployment level in Kyrgyzstan.

China is also ready for the cooperation in the development of the gold field Savoyardy, in the Alay region of the republic of Kyrgyzstan. The specialists of both countries will conduct the expertise of the project, its efficiency and the ecological issue too. Serious attention was paid to the opportunity of the export of the Kyrgyz electric power to the neighboring areas of China. Their potential demand makes up 6 billion kwh a year.

Yury Razgulayev PRAVDA.Ru Bishkek Kyrgyzstan

Translated by Dmitry Sudakov

Read the original in Russian: http://www.pravda.ru/main/2002/02/07/36741.html