Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov will hold talks on Saturday with the head of the Kyrgyz Foreign Ministry, Ruslan Kazakbaev, who has arrived in the Russian capital on an official visit.
Kazakbayev last visited Moscow in February 2021. The parties also met last year "on the margins" of the meetings of the CIS Ministerial Council in Moscow on April 1 and the CSTO Ministerial Council in Dushanbe on May 19.
According to Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova at a briefing, the ministers will discuss topical issues of bilateral cooperation in political, trade and economic, cultural, humanitarian and other spheres. "An exchange of views on Eurasian integration, global and regional security, including in connection with the events in Ukraine, and interaction at international platforms is also expected," she informed.
Strategic partner
The upcoming meeting of the ministers opens a series of events scheduled for this year, which are timed to coincide with the 30th anniversary of the establishment of Russian-Kyrgyz diplomatic relations. Relations between Moscow and Bishkek are of a nature of strategic partnership and alliance. "They are characterized by the diversity and similarity of approaches to international and regional affairs, the focus on the development of the Eurasian integration processes," said the Foreign Ministry of Russia on the eve of the talks.
The foreign ministers of the two countries are expected to consider issues of Eurasian integration, regional security, cooperation at international platforms, including the UN, EEU, CSTO, CIS and SCO. The Russian Foreign Ministry says that following the negotiations a Joint Ministerial Statement and a Program of Cooperation between the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Russia and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Kyrgyzstan for 2022-2024 will be signed.
The partnership of the two countries has also been tested by the pandemic, since Russia has been providing substantial assistance to Kyrgyzstan in fighting the coronavirus infection. Specifically, Moscow has sent teams of specialists to the country, supplied medical equipment, medicines, and several batches of Russian vaccine against the coronavirus on a free-of-charge basis. Currently, active cooperation of the countries in the fight against the pandemic continues. Also last year, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that Russian experts were studying the possibility of producing the Sputnik V vaccine at a site in Kyrgyzstan.
Security in the common space
Moscow is confident that the talks between Lavrov and Kazakbaev will make it possible to "synchronize watches" on issues of stability and security in the Eurasian space. In this context, special attention will be paid to the events in Ukraine. On February 28, Kyrgyz President Sadyr Zhaparov, during a telephone conversation with Putin, supported Russia's actions to protect civilians in Donbass.
Later, Bishkek stated that Kyrgyzstan supported ending the conflict in Ukraine and welcomed the start of negotiations to peacefully resolve the situation. It is possible that the head of the Russian Foreign Ministry will inform his colleague about the progress of the special Russian military operation and the prospects for negotiations with the Ukrainian side in Belarus.
In addition, the sides are likely to consider the situation on the Tajik-Kyrgyz border, at some parts of which there are occasional disputes and conflicts between local residents of the border areas. The last conflict involving the use of firearms by the parties occurred in January 2022.
Common interests
Kyrgyzstan remains one of the most important trade and economic partners of Russia among the CIS countries. Although trade turnover between the two countries has declined since the pandemic began, in 2021, its volume increased by 46.6% compared to 2020 and amounted to $2.49 billion. One of the key areas of cooperation between the two countries is the gas industry, but as Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin said earlier, the countries have good prospects in areas such as the digital economy, green energy, transportation and logistics. In this regard, he also expressed the hope that the republic will continue to provide a comfortable environment for Russian investors.
Lavrov and Kazakbaev are also likely to pay attention to the migration issue. Most migrant workers from Kyrgyzstan go to Russia for work - about 800,000 migrant workers arrive in the country every year. The Russian side insists on opening centers for organized training of migrant workers in the countries from which most of them go to Russia, so that people coming to work in Russia would be ready for it. Such centers could provide training of migrants in the Russian language and knowledge of the Russian legislation, is convinced in Moscow.
The Foreign Ministry also pointed to the close cooperation between Russia and Kyrgyzstan in the cultural and educational spheres. The interest of the young generation of Kyrgyzstan to get higher education in Russia is growing and there are currently 8,054 Kyrgyz students studying in Russian universities. The cultural agenda of the two countries includes this year's closing ceremony of the Russian-Kyrgyz cross-year in Bishkek.
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Photo: Russian Foreign Ministry
Based on materials from TASS