President of Kyrgyzstan Kurmanbek Bakiev will be on official visit to Kazakhstan from 17 to 18 April, the Kyrgyz Ambassador to Kazakstan Zhanysh Rustenbekov said to Trend Capital in Astana.

The second meeting of the Kazakh-Kyrgyz Supreme Interstate Council will take place during the visit, to discuss the urgent issues of cooperation in the political, trade, economic, investment, water engineering, cultural and humanitarian fields.

Zhanysh Rustenbekov detailed TrendCapital about it:

Question: What are the results of two years following the March Revolution which took place in Kyrgyzstan in 2005?

Answer: Owing to the new policy intended for removal of the mistakes made in past, Kyrgyzstan has managed to achieve noticeable results in these two years. Since last year, the country’s economy has been experiencing such a growth that it did not see for long years. The GDP volume in recent three years grew 1.5 times, the tax incomes grew two times and the capital investments grew almost three times. The budget incomes rose the same way. The investments in the country’s economy are also growing. Previously, the economic development of the country was mainly depending on gold production in Kumtor, but now the growth is promoted by all agricultural fields.
Question: How are the relations between Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan developing after taking into consideration these changes? Was there any progress during the last two years?

Answer: Cooperation with Kazakhstan has always been the key priority of Kyrgyzstan’s foreign policy. And the dynamics of our relationships is positive. Last year the trade turnover between Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan comprised $517mln, which is by 42.7% more than in 2006. Export amounted to $204.6mln (26% growth) and import – $312.4mln (56.4% growth).

Question: Are there any problematic issues despite the good-neighbour relations between the two countries?

Answer: The first thing which needs to be done is to increase the status of intergovernmental Kazakh-Kyrgyz joint commission on the bilateral cooperation. To put it more precisely, attention should be paid to the results of the decision that commission takes because several statements and issues remain unsolved.

Question: For instance?

Answer: For instance, on labour migration. The issue of equal arrival of Kyrgyzstan citizens to Kazakhstan has not been solved yet while your citizens can stay in our country for 90 days without registration. But there is not any move from Kazakhstan in this regard.

I would also mention that there are no problems in our relations which can not be solved by means of constructive dialogue and respect for mutual interests. The vivid example is the settlement of long-standing dispute around the properties of Kazakh businessmen in Kyrgyzstan. Recently, the MP of our parliament decided to hand over four pensions on the bank of Issik-Kul to Kazakhstan.

I would also like to point out that Kyrgyzstan transfers into ownership only resort facilities, but the land where these facilities are located are leased to Kazakhstan for a period of 49 years. On its part, according to the agreement, Kazakhstan is required to make 3 to 4 star hotels from the pensions, to operate them all the year round, to encourage flow of tourists and to create jobs for the population.

Question: One of the key issues on the high level will be the further progress in ideas of establishment the Union of Central Asia States. By the way, your well-known counterpart – the writer Chingiz Aytmatov has also stressed the importance of establishment of unified Central Asia as in case of the European Union. What do you think about it?
Answer: It is a good idea which is based on integration of all Central Asia republics as they are located near each other, have common cultural and historical roots, and most important is that they can build a strong economy by utilizing water and natural resources in a reasonable and joint way. In this respect, the project of construction of cascade of Kambaratinski hydroelectric power station is perspective and mutually profitable between our two republics. Kazakhstan has already allocated $8mln for the joint development of feasibility study of the project.