Excerpts from the transcript:
Mikhail Mishustin meets with Prime Minister and Chief of Staff of the Presidential Executive Office of Kyrgyzstan Akylbek Japarov
Mikhail Mishustin: Good afternoon, Mr Japarov, good afternoon, friends!
We met recently at the Eurasian Intergovernmental Council in Yerevan.
Of course, as we agreed, we need to continue dialogue on important issues of Russia-Kyrgyzstan cooperation, on all projects that concern the interests of our countries.
I would like to confirm again that Kyrgyzstan is Russia’s strategic ally and partner and we have friendly, fraternal relations. I hope that the Government and the Executive Office you head, as well as the President of Kyrgyzstan will continue to pursue the course towards strengthening cooperation with the Russian Federation, promoting joint actions in the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) and creating comfortable conditions for the operation of Russian investors and other businesses.
The republic will hold parliamentary elections on 28 November. Considering its ambitious tasks on expediting socio-economic development, it is, of course, important for Kyrgyzstan to preserve stability in society. We hope all political forces will act in line with the law in the interests of consolidating the republic’s statehood.
Russia is a key economic partner of Kyrgyzstan. In January – September, our trade increased by almost 38 percent compared with the corresponding period of 2020, reaching $1.7 billion.
Large Russian energy, mining and telecommunication companies are operating in Kyrgyzstan. There are great prospects for cooperation in industry, agricultural machine building, car manufacturing and radio electronics.
We support the Kyrgyz Government’s plans to improve budgetary administration, in part, through the collection of more taxes and duties. We are willing to expand our support in areas such as the digitalisation of government administration, introducing modern tax and customs management systems and using labelling and tracing systems to monitor the movement of goods and services.
We continue to jointly counter the coronavirus. We regularly supply Kyrgyzstan with Russian vaccines and test kits as humanitarian aid. We are increasing the number of flights, requiring that passengers observe coronavirus restrictions and use the digital application Travel without COVID-19. It is important to ensure the large-scale immunisation of the population – we talked about this in detail in Yerevan. This will allow us to stop the pandemic and, most importantly, it will save the lives of our people.
I would like to note our constructive humanitarian cooperation. Over 15,000 Kyrgyz students are studying in Russia, 6,500 of them funded by Russia. Naturally, our new joint project will help expand the use of Russian that is an official language in Kyrgyzstan. At the republic’s request, we are exploring the possibility of building general education schools in different regions of the republic, where the demand for the study of Russian is particularly high.
In general, we discussed our bilateral issues in detail in Yerevan and agreed to meet soon in an expanded format and look at our joint agenda again. Thank you for your prompt reply and quick visit.
Akylbek Japarov: Thank you very much, Mr Mishustin, for finding time to have a meeting with us. You are absolutely right: just a few days ago we saw each other in Yerevan, on the sidelines of the Eurasian Intergovernmental Council. Today, we have a meeting in Moscow to discuss the topical matters on our bilateral agenda in more detail. I would like to thank you for this opportunity.
Of course, this shows that cooperation between our countries has been gathering momentum, rooted as it is in our shared historical past, the cultural and spiritual heritage that our ancestors have passed on to us.
We are committed to assuring continuity in developing our multifaceted relations.
I would like to thank Russia for its decision to resume regular air service with Kyrgyzstan from 1 December on a reciprocal basis.
I would also like to thank Russia once again for delivering 200,000 doses of the Sputnik Light vaccine on 12 November as humanitarian aid. This will definitely enable us to be more effective in fighting the pandemic and to vaccinate as many of our people as possible at a faster pace.
Let me note that we always feel the support of the Russian leadership and your personal attention, Mr Mishutin, for which we are very grateful.
Turning to the question you raised at our previous meeting on nominating Moscow as a candidate city for hosting the World Expo 2030, of course, as your closest allies, we support this bid, and have the honour to deliver our answer.
On behalf of President of Kyrgyzstan Sadyr Japarov, allow me to convey our support to you and President of Russia Vladimir Putin, and to wish you every success in holding this exhibition.
We are ready to provide you with all possible assistance in this undertaking.
Mikhail Mishustin: Mr Japarov, for this to happen, other countries must vote for us, so that we win this nomination.
Akylbek Japarov: Of course… Taking this opportunity, I would like to invite you, Mr Mishustin, to Kyrgyzstan on an official visit.
