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Economic Week of Kyrgyzstan – Oct. 23-28, 2017

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Verbal money. This week the Kyrgyz Parliament’s committee on budget and finance supported the bill of the Government on denunciation of the agreement with Kazakhstan on providing Kyrgyzstan the aid in the amount of $ 100 million. The financial aid was to be provided by Kazakhstan to Kyrgyzstan as part of the republic's accession to the Eurasian Economic Union (EEU). The process of providing assistance has dragged on since 2010, but funds have not yet been received under various pretexts.

"It was originally the financial assistance. I became a MP in 2010 and since then this issue has been discussing. Then it was decided to make it as technical assistance within the framework of Kyrgyzstan's accession to the EEU. When I asked our government what kind of assistance would be provided by Kazakhstan, that is, no one gave me an answer. And it was already clear that there would not be any aid," said member of the Parliament Dastan Bekeshov.

Kazakhstan agreed to render aid to Kyrgyzstan in the amount of $ 100 million to integrate the country into the EEU. In March of this year, during the meeting of the heads of government of the EEU, Prime Minister of the Republic of Kazakhstan Bakytzhan Sagintayev told readiness to transfer the first tranche of funds in the amount of $ 41 million. However, Kazakhstan did not transfer this money.

Turn to Uzbekistan. The Ministry of Economy of the Kyrgyz Republic and the Ministry of Foreign Trade of Uzbekistan signed a protocol on intensification of cooperation. The document was signed during the meeting of Minister of Economy of the Kyrgyz Republic Artem Novikov and Deputy Minister of Foreign Trade of Uzbekistan Sahib Saifnazarov in Bishkek. The protocol was signed taking into account the importance of implementing joint projects in the priority areas of the economies of the two countries, as well as in order to implement the agreements reached on building partnership and increasing mutual trade.

The parties noted that to implement projects to organize the industrial assembly of buses and cars, it is necessary to work out a special tax regime or alternative support mechanism, as well as prepare a forecasted demand for vehicles with specification of technical characteristics.

The choise is stark. Prime Minister of the Kyrgyz Republic Sapar Isakov raised the issue on the current situation on the Kyrgyz-Kazakh border at the enlarged meeting of the EEU Intergovernmental Council in Yerevan.

He said that that there are problems on the Kyrgyz-Kazakh border, although some of them were dropped. "But the question is, should there be these problems and are they in line with the spirit of our partnership and the treaties that we signed? No, they do not. Today, only one unsolved problem has remained in bilateral relations. You know that on October 10, 2017, in the Kyrgyz-Kazakh and Russian-Kazakhstan sectors of the border, Kazakhstan tightened the border control for vehicles from Kyrgyzstan. And for today, unfortunately, this issue is not solved. And we would like to hope that our friends will solve this problem," said Isakov.

The head of the Kyrgyz government said that the contractual base of the EEU gives every reason to say that vehicles loaded with goods should not be idle at the border. Isakov reminded that the principles of the EEU allow free movement of goods, capital, people, etc.

"We would like to draw attention to this. We believe that Kazakhstan will solve all existing problems," he added.

The Astana agreement of the two countries’ heads of the governments on the creation of a joint "road map" for border crossing was implemented. However, the agreement consisting of 48 items was not signed in Yerevan, and the Kazakh side put forward new accusations against Kyrgyzstan. This time the Kazakh side is accusing of "gray flows" of cargo across the border. The answer of the Kyrgyz side showed that similar schemes are available both in Kazakhstan and in other countries. Until now, Astana has not taken this into account. The government of Kyrgyzstan then stated that Kazakhstan's actions on the border with Kyrgyzstan have already led to the loss of more than $ 1 billion for the entire EEU, since commodity producers cannot deliver their products, and recipients suffer losses due to delays in goods. While there is no way to solve the crisis and, some observers said that, the crisis leads to the loss of the image of the EEU and gradually it grows, indirectly, into a political conflict. There are fears that this crisis is unlikely to be resolved till newly elected President of Kyrgyzstan will meet with Kazakhstan leader face to face. Meanwhile, trucks with goods on the Kyrgyz-Kazakh border are forced to stand idle for more than 11 hours.

Experts understand. Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan understand the need for cooperation, so now the situation on the Kyrgyz-Kazakh border should not be politicized. This is the opinion of Ayan Yerenov, the head of Kazakhstan's Foreign Trade Chamber.

In his opinion, in the long term the issue on the border of two neighboring countries will be resolved.

"We, as entrepreneurs, proceed from a constructive dialogue. Today we do not see any big problems. Yes, there are cases of difficulty. But in our understanding, trade will be developed, because we have good relations with Kyrgyzstan, "he said.

The head of the Foreign Trade Chamber of Kazakhstan said that the situation at the border had no effect on food prices in Kazakhstan.

"The entrepreneurs of Kazakhstan have not yet addressed concerning this situation. We have normal relations with Kyrgyzstan," he assured.

Yerenov’s Russian colleague told the same. "I hope that the situation on the Kyrgyz-Kazakh border is temporary," said Sergei Katyrin, president of the Russian Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

He also expressed hope that the politicians of the two countries will find an opportunity to resolve the current situation.

And again Megacom. Negotiations on the sale of Alfa Telecom CJSC (MegaCom) with Russian citizen Elena Nagornaya is still underway. Chairman of the State Property Foundation of Kyrgyzstan Bolsunbek Kazakov said that at the moment the audit is underway and lawyers are working on the analysis, as the buyer wants to insure the deal in Switzerland. This is due to the fact that the insurance company claim an audit report.

Kazakov said that before the conclusion of the contract, Elena Nagornaya, who is a potential buyer, should open a bank account in Kyrgyzstan and present a certificate from there that the money is available there.

In September this year, a Russian citizen Elena Nagornaya announced that she is ready to buy Alfa Telecom.

Korean lottery business. The tender for the implementation of services for lottery tickets in Kyrgyzstan was won by a Korean company. Three companies took part in the tender: Kyrgyzstan’s Astra Club Ltd., the Serbian Elbetd.o.o., and the Korean JSC Nanum Lotto. The winner is the Korean company Nanum LottoCo., Ltd.

It is important to note that Astra-Club LLC and Elbetd.o.o. (Serbia) were rejected as they did not meet the established requirements. They did not provide some required documents, other required conditions were not fully implemented or did not comply with the legislation of the Kyrgyz Republic.

Nanum Lotto Co., Ltd has been involved in lottery activities for 10 years and is the main operator of the state lottery of the Republic of Korea, a member of the World Lottery Association (WLA) and the Asian Lottery Association (APLA), has the highest level of WLA Level 4 on creating a healthy culture of doing lottery business, holder of international certificates ISO 9001 and 27001.

Foreign trade. Currently Kyrgyzstan has the largest commodity turnover with Russia, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan. According to data of Deputy Economy Minister Eldar Abakirov, trade with the CIS countries makes 46%. At the same time, the lion's share belongs to Russia. However, due to the improvement of relations between Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan, the volume of trade between the two countries is growing rapidly.

Kabar News Agency

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