Erik Beishembiev/Ambassador of Republic of Kyrgyzstan to Pakistan
Kyrgyzstan enjoys excellent bilateral relations with Pakistan since establishment of diplomatic relations in 1992. During last 30 years our countries exchanged presidential visits twice, Kyrgyz Prime Ministers visited Pakistan twice, Pakistani Prime Ministers came to Kyrgyzstan four times, Speakers of the Kyrgyz parliament visited Pakistan twice and Ministers of Foreign Affairs of our countries exchanged visits.
In June 2019, the Prime Minister of Pakistan Imran Khan met his Kyrgyz counterpart on the sidelines of the SCO Summit in our capital Bishkek.
During conversation, they reviewed bilateral relations and agreed to hold Joint Ministerial Commission and Bilateral Political Consultations, to comprehensively upgrade mutual cooperation in diverse fields and strengthen the land and air connectivity between the two countries, to enhance people-to-people contacts and boost tourism cooperation through friendly visa regimes. Prime Minister Imran Khan invited Kyrgyz President to visit Pakistan.
Cooperation in the field of education is developing actively. About 7000 Pakistani students are studying in Kyrgyzstan mostly in medical universities. In February this year, Kyrgyz Minister of education and science A. Beishenaliev visited Pakistan and held meetings with the Federal Minister of Federal Education and Professional Training Shafqat Mahmood, Special Assistant to Prime Ministeron healthDr. Faisal Sultan, Chairman of the Higher Education Commission of Pakistan Dr. Tariq Banuri and President of the Pakistan Medical Commission Dr. Arshad Taqi. The sides expressed interest in expanding academic exchanges and cooperation between the Ministries and educational institutions of our country and Pakistan.
The existing trade volume between Kyrgyzstan and Pakistan is not up to the actual potential that exists and both countries should work towards increasing it.
In order to promote trade and economic relations Intergovernmental Kyrgyz-Pakistani commission was established in 1994, which held its third meeting on 11-12 January 2017 in Islamabad. Now we are expecting the Pakistani delegation to come to my country for the next meeting of the commission.
There are several priority areas for economic cooperation between our countries, which may include electricity production and supply, mining industry,light and food industries, medicine and pharmaceuticals, IT technologies.
Kyrgyzstan is rich in water resources, which are used for electricity production by a number of hydropower stations. My country is a member of the project CASA-1000, which is aimed of brining surplus electricity from Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan hydropower stations in summer times to Pakistan through the territory of Afghanistan.
Kyrgyzstan is interested in development of short transportation links through its territory between Central Asia and China and Pakistan with access to Gwadar and Karachi ports using railway and automobile roads, which are being constructed in the framework of CPEC.
Today shortest automobile roads are connecting China to Kyrgyzstan through two border mountain passes in Kyrgyzstan – Torugart in the North and – Erkeshtam in the South, located only about 200 km from Chinese city of Kashgar. The road through Kyrgyz border post Erkestam is the shortest way from Fergana valley, which is shared between Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan, to China and further to Pakistan.
Pakistani and Kyrgyz businessmen may open joint ventures on textile production as Kyrgyzstan is already a major supplier of textile goods to Russia and Kazakhstan and Pakistan is one of the world’s top textile producers.
Of course, agriculture and livestock are dynamic sectors, where both sides can explore opportunities of opening joint ventures on agricultural products processing to increase exports to Eurasian Economic Union, European Union or Arab world.
In conclusion, I would like to stress that Kyrgyz-Pakistani brotherly relations have close historical, cultural and religious ties, considerable economic potential and all prerequisites for further development.
(Ambassador delivered a speech at the launch of the book “The Kyrgyz” on 24 June 2021. This part of speech belongs to Kyrgyz-Pak Relations)
Erik Beishembiev/Ambassador of Republic of Kyrgyzstan to Pakistan
