Kyrgyzstan aims to bring trade turnover with Turkey up to USD 1 bln

Bishkek, Nov. 13, 2020. /Kabar/. As part of his working visit to Turkey, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Kyrgyzstan Ruslan Kazakbayev met Co-Chairman of the Turkish part of the Kyrgyz-Turkish Business Council Aydin Mystachoglu and Co-Chairman of the Kyrgyz part of the Council Temirlan Sarlykbek uulu. According to the Kyrgyz Foreign Ministry’s press service, at the beginning of the meeting Minister Kazakbayev expressed condolences to the Turkish side over victims of the earthquake in Izmir Province and wished speedy recovery to those injured. Kazakbayev informed the meeting participants about stabilization of domestic political situation in the country and upcoming important political events in Kyrgyzstan, current activities of the country's leadership and government aimed at solving socio-economic issues. Expressing special gratitude to the Turkish Government and Turkish business community for their assistance in the fight against COVID-19, the minister emphasized the importance of Kyrgyz-Turkish relations based on the bonds of unity of language, history, culture, and the role of brotherly Turkey as one of the leading strategic partners of Kyrgyzstan. He emphasized the events that took place in October in the Kyrgyz Republic do not pose any threat to investors and businessmen, particularly Turkish, and assured of the Kyrgyz side’s readiness to continue protecting the rights of Turkish investors and ensure the safety of citizens of Turkey residing in the territory of the Kyrgyz Republic. Kazakbayev stresses that despite the current difficulties, entrepreneurs and investors of Turkey continue their activities in Kyrgyzstan, and in this context he expressed hope that work will continue on achieving the goal set by heads of the two countries to increase trade turnover to 1 billion dollars. For this purpose, the Kyrgyz side proposed to intensify the use of existing mechanisms of cooperation between the Kyrgyz Republic and Turkey at the state level, such as the High Level Strategic Cooperation Council, the Joint Intergovernmental Commission, Turkey-Kyrgyzstan Business Forum under the Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Turkey (TOBB), the Kyrgyz-Turkish Business Council under DEIK, the Eurasian Business Club Association, established on the basis of Kyrgyz graduates who studied in Turkey, the TUKID Association of Turkish-Kyrgyz businessmen, established in the Kyrgyz Republic. At the end of the meeting, the sides agreed to implement projects on capacity building of economic diplomacy with the involvement of representatives of the leading business associations of the Kyrgyz Republic and representatives of 7 oblasts of the republic, and by analogy with the above project to organize a visit to Turkey by a delegation of the leading business associations of the Kyrgyz Republic and representatives of 7 oblasts responsible for economic issues. As a result of the abovementioned visit, a program of cooperation between Kyrgyz-Turkish Business Council will be developed with an emphasis on organizing business meetings and trade missions in priority sectors of the Kyrgyz Republic’s development, such as textile and sewing, agriculture and agribusiness, etc. At the same time, given the significant experience in implementing PPP projects in Turkey by the Kyrgyz side, it was proposed to work out bilateral cooperation to study the experience of Turkey and its application in Kyrgyzstan through coordination of the Economic Diplomacy Department of the Kyrgyz Foreign Ministry.