Prime Minister Vladimir Putin met with Kyrgyz Prime Minister Igor Chudinov
16 september 2008
Vladimir Putin
Meeting with Kyrgyz Prime Minister Igor Chudinov
Participants:
"The volume of accumulated Russian investment remains small. We hope very much that the President and the Government of Kyrgyzstan will do everything possible in order to provide incentives for Russian capital. Moscow will also promote Russian business operations in the Kyrgyz economy. This is certainly a reserve component of our cooperation."
Vladimir Putin: Good evening. I am very glad to see you.
First of all, I would like to note that we are quite happy about the development of Russian-Kyrgyz ties, including bilateral economic cooperation. In 2007, the bilateral trade turnover topped $1.2 billion, soaring by another 57% in January-June 2008. This result is quite impressive.
We must do our best to diversify our ties in the sphere of power generation and distribution and the metallurgic, transport and telecommunications sectors. Naturally, we must provide extra opportunities for Russian business and for direct investment into the Kyrgyz economy.
Unfortunately, the volume of accumulated Russian investment remains small. We hope very much that the President and the Government of Kyrgyzstan will do everything possible in order to provide incentives for Russian capital. Moscow will also promote Russian business operations in the Kyrgyz economy. This is certainly a reserve component of our cooperation.
We are very glad to see you. Welcome to Russia.
Igor Chudinov: Thank you very much, Mr Putin. I fully share your optimistic assessment of our rapidly expanding relations. I agree that we must search for other cooperation opportunities in other sectors, except the power industry. Our countries, doubtless, have such opportunities, including those in the metallurgical sector mentioned by you.
I believe that we have not yet depleted the bilateral cooperation potential in the sphere of agriculture. This potential is quite substantial because 60% of Kyrgyz citizens live and work in rural areas. We are also interested in Russia's rapidly developing seed-growing and pedigree livestock-raising sectors. In our opinion, such cooperation should also expand.
Kyrgyzstan, which bought 300 Russian-made tractors last year, would like to purchase additional farming machinery. I would like to discuss all these issues in the context of the Russian President's upcoming visit to Kyrgyzstan, so that we could exchange constructive information and make headway during this meeting.
