FM Kazakbaev: First political contact between presidents of Kyrgyzstan and Turkey held at high level

Bishkek, June 12, 2021. / Kabar /. The first political contact between Presidents of Kyrgyzstan Sadyr Zhaparov and Turkey Recep Tayyip Erdogan was held at a high level, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Kyrgyz Republic Ruslan Kazakbaev told commenting on the results of President Zhaparov’s official visit to Turkey.

He said that Turkey and Kyrgyzstan are strategic partners and fraternal countries that are linked by a common history, traditions and language group.

“The meeting between Presidents Sadyr Zhaparov and Recep Tayyip Erdogan is the first political contact at the highest level. The leaders of the countries enlisted mutual support, held meetings in a tete-a-tete format and in an expanded format," Ruslan Kazakbaev noted.

Also within the framework of the visit, the 5th meeting of the Supreme Council for Strategic Cooperation between Kyrgyzstan and Turkey was held, the entire list of issues of bilateral and multilateral cooperation was discussed, as a result 8 documents were signed at the international level in the field of health, agriculture, culture, sports, youth policy and protection copyright.

In the economic direction, the representatives of the two countries came to a mutual understanding that in the future it is very important to open the Kyrgyz-Turkish Development Fund to support Kyrgyz businessmen and Turkish investors.

The sides also came to an understanding that it is necessary to bring the trade turnover between the countries up to USD 1 billion, the minister noted.

The Turkish side, in addition, expressed a desire to provide military-technical assistance to the Ministry of Defense of Kyrgyzstan on a grant basis.

A business forum was also held, following which a number of memorandums were signed.

Kazakbaev added that the business forum showed the interest of Turkish entrepreneurs in investing in Kyrgyzstan. The meetings of the ministers of culture of the two countries have also become fruitful, and a lot of cultural events are planned in Turkey.

“Another important point - the simplification of mutual trips of citizens of the two countries was discussed, in particular, the extension of the visa-free regime. There is a preliminary understanding here, but there is still a lot of work to be done on this issue at the level of migration services and ministries of foreign affairs.

The issue of increasing the number of flights was also raised. We asked for an increase up to 28 flights per week. Turkish President agreed with this proposal,” said Foreign Minister Ruslan Kazakbaev.