Deputy Prime Minister of the Russian Federation Alexei Overchuk and First Deputy Chairman of the Cabinet of Ministers of the Kyrgyz Republic Arzybek Kozhoshev co-chaired the 23rd meeting of the Russia-Kyrgyzstan Intergovernmental Commission on Trade, Economic, Scientific, Technical and Humanitarian Cooperation. Representatives of respective bodies, ministries and agencies of Russia and Kyrgyzstan took part in the meeting held in Moscow on April 14.
The Commission’s co-chairs reviewed a broad range of issues including interaction between the countries’ business communities, regions and development institutions. They identified promising areas for joint projects and evaluated the results of 2021. Special focus went to cooperation in industry, transport, finance, agriculture, migration, education and culture, as well as other promising areas.
During the meeting, Alexei Overchuk highlighted the high level of the bilateral strategic cooperation between the Russian Federation and the Kyrgyz Republic and noted the positive trend in bilateral trade, which rose 47 percent in 2021 to reach $2.5 billion. The Deputy Prime Minister specified that at present 47.4 percent of Russian export to Kyrgyzstan and 67 percent of Kyrgyz imports to the Russian market are paid for in roubles.
Alexei Overchuk identified transport, logistics, industrial and agro-industrial cooperation as well as cultural cooperation as areas with significant potential for expanded cooperation.
Region-to-region cooperation was given special attention at the meeting. The parties stressed its steady progress as in 2021, with 81 constituent entities of the Russian Federation maintaining trade and economic ties with Kyrgyzstan. Moscow and St Petersburg, as well as the Orenburg, Samara, Moscow, Chelyabinsk, Sverdlovsk, Saratov, Kemerovo and Novosibirsk Regions and the Republic of Tatarstan were particularly active in strengthening economic ties with Kyrgyzstan. Fifteen Russian regions have economic, science and technology, and cultural cooperation agreements with the Government of the Kyrgyz Republic.
The annual Russian-Kyrgyz Conference was acknowledged as an effective tool of direct communication, sharing experience and best practices of territorial development, discussing the possibility of using integration processes to improve regional development, and monitoring the progress of joint projects. The ninth Russian-Kyrgyz Conference is scheduled for June 2022 in Yekaterinburg.
The meeting participants also discussed the development of cooperation in culture. Citizens of the Kyrgyz Republic study at Russian universities and the Kyrgyz-Russian Slavic University remains open.
The Russian Language Ambassadors in the World programme is being implemented, including in the Kyrgyz Republic, as well as the Russian Teacher Abroad humanitarian project. In the 2019/20 academic year, 17 teachers of Russian, literature, mathematics and primary classes provided instruction in general educational establishments in Osh. In 2020/21 and 2021/22 academic years the number of teachers increased to 29.
Cooperation in the sphere of youth policy has been developing. The Russian-Kyrgyz Youth Forum was held in Moscow in November 2021.
Russia and Kyrgyzstan have participated in regular activities in cultural cooperation in the fields of theatre, music, film, folk art, and libraries and exhibitions, such as cultural exchanges as part of touring activities, including through participation in international cultural projects of the Russian Federation and the Kyrgyz Republic. Days of Culture of Russia in Kyrgyzstan were held in Bishkek in August 2021, as part of the cross-cultural year of the two states.
The meeting resulted in the signing of the Final Protocol of the 23rd meeting of the Intergovernmental Commission on Trade, Economic, Scientific, Technical, and Humanitarian Cooperation and the Memorandum of Understanding between the Ministry of Finance of the Russian Federation and the Ministry of Finance of the Kyrgyz Republic.
