Within the frameworks of his state visit to Kyrgyzstan, Vladimir Putin had talks with his counterpart Sooronbay Jeenbekov which culminated in signing a number of documents, presidential web page reports.
In his statement for the media, Russia’s President noted positive dynamics in bilateral trade.
“Last year it increased by 17%, reaching almost $2 bln. This January it grew by further 25%,” he said. “The Russian Export Centre facilitates expanded mutual trade volumes. Twelve joint projects worth $71 mio and aiming to expand the commodity range have already been launched with its support. In turn, the Russian Direct Investment Fund is doing a lot to boost mutual capital investment volumes. An agreement, signed between the Fund and Kyrgyz partners, aims to expand mutual investment, the current volume of which exceeds $350 mio. Accumulated Russian investment in Kyrgyzstan exceeds $200 mio, while Kyrgyzstan has accumulated $150 mio worth of investments in Russia.”
The President also noted that Russian companies are active in virtually all key sectors of the Kyrgyz economy such as power industry, mining and engineering sectors, agriculture and transport. Over 700 Russian-Kyrgyz joint ventures operate in the republic.
As he said, the two countries “maintain large-scale cooperation in the oil and gas sector. Gazprom is doing a lot to implement a general plan for supplying Kyrgyzstan with gas and building gas pipelines in local communities until 2030. The Russian concern has already invested RUR 16 bln out of the planned RUR 100 bln ($1.54 bln), increasing the number of Kyrgyz communities that receive gas from 22% to 30%. Since 2011, Russia has been annually exporting over 1.1 mio tons of crude oil to Kyrgyzstan duty-free. The direct economic effect from these easy-term deliveries for the Kyrgyz economy totals an estimated $2 bln.”
It was noted that VTB Bank, Alliance Group and Alliance Altyn will launch a major project to develop Jerooy gold mine, with total investment over the next 20 years reaching some $600 mio.
“Bilateral cooperation in high technologies is also growing. Among promising innovative projects is the joint production of single-crystal wafers for solar power stations in Kyrgyzstan. Russia’s BL Group is ready to begin production of modern LED equipment in the republic,” Putin said.