ID :
160078
Thu, 02/10/2011 - 16:54
Auther :

Russia and Kyrgyzstan to set up joint venture to supply fuel for US base

BISHKEK, February 10 (Itar-Tass) - Kyrgyzstan and Russia will
establish a joint venture to supply fuel for the US Transit Center located at the Manas airport in Bishkek. It was called the US Air Force base before the summer of 2009.
The Kyrgyz government office told Itar-Tass that the 12th meeting of the Kyrgyz-Russian intergovernmental commission on trade, economic,
scientific, technical, cultural and humanitarian cooperation, which was held in Bishkek on Thursday, took a decision to instruct the Kyrgyz side complete establishment of the above enterprise by the end of the current month.
The government noted that "the state enterprise Manas Fuel and
Refuelling Complex will be involved from the Kyrgyz side, and from the
Russian - the joint stock company Gazpromneft-Aero. According to
co-chairman of the intergovernmental commission from the Kyrgyz side and first vice-premier Omurbek Babanov, the new venture is to start supplying fuel to the republic already this March.
Kyrgyzstan and the US signed an agreement several days ago that from now on, half of the necessary aviation kerosene for the US centre will be supplied by the Kyrgyz side. At the same time, it has the right to choose independently a fuel supplier. Earlier, only companies, chosen by the American side, supplied fuel for the centre.
Incidentally, the present Kyrgyz leadership claims that all those
firms had relations with close relatives of former presidents of the
country Askar Akayev and Kurmanbek Bakiev. Bishkek hopes that the
republican budget will rake in annually 60 million dollars from the
enterprise to be set up jointly with Gazpromneft-Aero.
The US airbase was opened in Manas in December 2001. It operated under a UN mandate and was designed to support the operation "Indomitable Freedom" in Afghanistan. Troops and combat materiel from several member countries of the anti-terrorist coalition were based initially here.
However, the core of the grouping is now made up of UN Air Force
representatives.
In 2009, the Kyrgyz authorities announced an intention to close down the base. However, following lengthy consultations between Bishkek and Washington, it was just renamed.

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