The meeting was part of the Kyrgyz President’s official visit to Russia.
Mikhail Mishustin: Mr Japarov, friends,
With President of the Republic of Kyrgyzstan Sadyr Japarov
Mikhail Mishustin’s meeting with President of the Republic of Kyrgyzstan Sadyr Japarov
Mikhail Mishustin at a meeting with President of the Republic of Kyrgyzstan Sadyr Japarov
President of the Republic of Kyrgyzstan Sadyr Japarov at a meeting with Mikhail Mishustin
With President of the Republic of Kyrgyzstan Sadyr Japarov
We are happy to welcome you in Russia, here in the Government House.
First of all, from the bottom of my heart, I would like to congratulate you and the brotherly people of Kyrgyzstan on Victory Day.
The Victory in the Great Patriotic War is the most important event for our countries, and your official visit to Russia is timed to coincide with this holiday that is sacred to all of us.
Today you attended the Victory Day military parade as a guest of honour, and yesterday you took part in the opening ceremony of a memorial to Kyrgyz soldiers who died in the Rzhev-Vyazma battles on the front in Rzhev.
It is crucial that Kyrgyzstan and Russia cherish the historical memory of the heroic feats of frontline soldiers and home front workers, and pass it down with care to the new generations of our citizens.
Yesterday you had talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin. The Government will ensure the prompt implementation of the agreements reached at the highest level.
I would like to emphasise that Kyrgyzstan is our strategic partner and ally. We are genuinely interested in expanding trade and economic cooperation, and protecting our ties from negative impacts, including illegal economic sanctions imposed by unfriendly states.
Despite the difficult external environment, cooperation between Russia and Kyrgyzstan is making good progress. Last year our mutual trade reached an all-time high of $3.5 billion. In the first quarter, its volume increased by another 30 percent to exceed $830 million.
The Russia-Kyrgyzstan Intergovernmental Commission, co-chaired by Deputy Prime Minister Alexei Overchuk and my colleague, Prime Minister of Kyrgyzstan Akylbek Japarov, operates effectively. Please give him my best wishes and congratulations on Victory Day if possible.
At the 29 March meeting of the Intergovernmental Commission in Bishkek, new decisions were taken to further expand our cooperation. And most recently, on 25 April, the co-chairs held talks via videoconference that focused on substantive preparations for your visit.
Russia is one of the largest investors in the Kyrgyz economy, with over $2 billion in capital investments. Russian businesses are active in the energy, industrial, mining, and digital sectors. We expect that the Kyrgyz leadership will provide a comfortable environment for Russian entrepreneurs and assist in the implementation of major joint projects.
It is essential to make full use of the potential of the Russian-Kyrgyz Development Fund and the Russian Export Centre, and to actively engage with small and medium-sized businesses.
Pursuant to the decisions taken by Russian President Vladimir Putin, the Government is also supporting our respected Kyrgyz colleagues with respect to tax administration and product labelling. As a result, commodity flows are under effective control, and tax, excise and customs revenues to the budget have increased.
Rosatom is doing extensive work to reclaim former uranium mining sites in Kyrgyzstan. We also plan to develop a new assistance program until 2032.
As for education and culture, we are launching a new project to build nine general education schools in Kyrgyzstan that will teach in Russian and according to Russian standards. This long-term programme will be another symbol of the centuries-old friendship between the peoples of Russia and Kyrgyzstan. Thank you, Mr President, for this initiative. I am sure that it will help strengthen the position of the Russian language, which has the status of an official language under the Constitution of Kyrgyzstan.
I would like to thank you, Mr President, for your personal attention to the Russian language.
This year, Russia has assumed the chairmanship of the Eurasian Economic Union from Kyrgyzstan. We stand for further deepening Eurasian integration in line with Russia’s priorities outlined by President Vladimir Putin in his address to the leaders of the five countries.
Mr President, we have a full, substantive agenda concerning trade and economic cooperation. You have the floor, please.
President of the Republic of Kyrgyzstan Sadyr Japarov at a meeting with Mikhail Mishustin
Sadyr Japarov: Thank you, Mr Mishustin. I am glad to meet with you in Moscow as part of my official visit to the Russian Federation.
First of all, let me congratulate you on Victory Day. On this day, we remember the feat that millions of Soviet people accomplished. Happy Great Victory Day to you!
Mr Prime Minister, yesterday we had extensive talks with President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin. We discussed a range of current issues concerning bilateral cooperation, and coordinated our approaches to the further development of Russia-Kyrgyzstan relations.
Thanks to the trust-based political dialogue and well-established cooperation between the governments of our two countries, Kyrgyzstan-Russia relations are developing dynamically in the traditional spirit of alliance and strategic partnership on the basis of years-long friendship, mutual understanding and support between our peoples. We greatly appreciate the practical support of the Government of the Russian Federation and your personal attention, Mr Mishustin, to implementing agreements on a range of issues on the bilateral agenda, including within the framework of Eurasian integration and other international organisations.
Mr Mishustin, Russia is one of Kyrgyzstan’s largest trade and economic partners. As you mentioned earlier, last year the foreign trade of our country with Russia reached an all-time high of over $3 billion. Naturally, this is not a ceiling for our countries. We have every opportunity and the potential to go further in our mutual trade and investment cooperation. There are special government formats, such as the Intergovernmental Commission and meetings between its co-chairs.
A little over a month ago, on 29 March, Bishkek successfully hosted the 24th meeting of the Intergovernmental Commission (IGC). Following the meeting, I personally received your deputy, Alexei Overchuk, and your colleague Akylbek Japarov. The co-chairs reviewed the main areas of economic cooperation in a constructive manner, including several current and problematic issues, and also signed a number of agreements of mutual interest.
Mr Mishustin, on a separate note, I would like to highlight with satisfaction the agreement signed within the IGC framework on the implementation of a major joint project on the construction of nine schools in the Republic of Kyrgyzstan with instruction in the Russian language.
This is a truly historic agreement – evidence of the allied nature of our relations and our established strategic partnership. We are grateful to Russia, to you and to Alexei Overchuk personally for your contribution to the development of this important project for Kyrgyzstan-Russia cooperation.
I would also like to note that this year marks exactly ten years of the school meals project in Kyrgyzstan. We are grateful to the Russian side for the assistance provided via the UN World Food Programme in the amount of $20 million between 2013 and 2022.
Thanks to sustained funding from Russia, we have been able to provide more than 640 schools with over 180,000 primary school students with hot meals and to open the Republican Competence Centre for School Nutrition.
This is a very important project for us. Continued support from Russia on this issue is vital if we are to achieve sustainable results and provide all primary school students with wholesome lunches. Understanding the importance of school nutrition for all CIS member states, Kyrgyzstan, as the country chairing the Commonwealth, has proposed holding a forum on school nutrition in the CIS at the end of this year. We invite a Russian delegation to actively participate in this event.
Mr Mishustin, region-to-region cooperation is developing fruitfully. Annual inter-regional conferences have proven to be important for the interaction between our regions. This year, the tenth conference is to be held in Kyrgyzstan. I hope that the Russian side will support holding this year's region-to-region conference in one of the significant industrial centres of the former USSR – the city of Jalal-Abad, which is now an important area of growth.
Thank you.
