{"id":14934,"date":"2022-04-05T12:56:16","date_gmt":"2022-04-05T12:56:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pakistanintheworld.pk\/live\/?p=14934"},"modified":"2022-04-05T12:56:16","modified_gmt":"2022-04-05T12:56:16","slug":"president-of-kyrgyzstan-announces-nationalization-of-kumtor-gold-mine","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pakistanintheworld.pk\/live\/president-of-kyrgyzstan-announces-nationalization-of-kumtor-gold-mine\/","title":{"rendered":"President of Kyrgyzstan Announces Nationalization of Kumtor Gold Mine"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"Islamabad: 04 April 2022 – Kyrgyzstan\u2019s government has struck a deal with a Canadian investor to end a years-long dispute over the huge Kumtor gold mine, thereby completing nationalization of an asset that accounts for around one-tenth of the country\u2019s economy.<\/span><\/h4>\n

Under the\u00a0agreement\u00a0announced by President Sadyr Japarov on April 4, state-owned gold miner Kyrgyzaltyn will assume full ownership of the mine, which the government\u00a0seized\u00a0in May.<\/span><\/h4>\n

In exchange for its 100 percent stakes in the Kumtor Gold Company and the Kumtor Operating Company, Kyrgyzaltyn will cede its 26 percent stake in Centerra Gold, the Canadian parent company. The latter\u2019s shareholders have yet to approve the deal.<\/span><\/h4>\n

Centerra Gold will make a $50 million cash payment to settle an outstanding loan and contribute to protecting Kyrgyzstan\u2019s natural resources. Claims of environmental damage \u2013 an issue that the company has always insistently played down \u2013 have long been a bone of contention. Both sides will now set aside their tit-for-tat legal disputes and waive liability.<\/span><\/h4>\n

Japarov is jubilant. The theme of wresting Kumtor from foreign hands has long been at the heart of his\u00a0political brand. After some initial hesitation following his rambunctious seizure of power in October 2020, he followed through on his public commitment by ordering that the government take the mine under administration. What was meant to be an interim period of state control over the mine, however, has now become permanent.<\/span><\/h4>\n

\u201cKumtor has been totally and irrevocably returned to our motherland,\u201d he said in a televised\u00a0address\u00a0to the nation to mark the signing of the agreement. \u201cI can without any exaggeration say that today will go down in the history of our country as a breakthrough. Our people have taken responsibility for their fate.\u201d<\/span><\/h4>\n

The agreement was an example of \u201chow it is necessary to stand up for national interests,\u201d and a harbinger of Kyrgyzstan\u2019s \u201csteadfast growth and development,\u201d he said.<\/span><\/h4>\n

Japarov nevertheless pledged that Kyrgyzstan was \u201copen for business.\u201d<\/span><\/h4>\n

\u201cWe have always welcomed investment from those who share our respect for rule of law, our national riches and our national interests. We have shown that again today,\u201d he said.<\/span><\/h4>\n

Kumtor\u2019s multimillion-dollar profits, over which Centerra and Bishkek have bickered constantly, will now all accrue to the state, he said.<\/span><\/h4>\n

Japarov has lofty ambitions for Kumtor. In the last seven months of 2021, when the mine was fully under government control, it made profits of $323 million, Japarov said. He wants to see another $5 billion in profits roll in over the coming decade.<\/span><\/h4>\n

As Centerra Gold quits Kyrgyzstan with its tail between its legs, company president Scott Perry\u00a0depicted\u00a0the agreement as a chance to \u201ceffect a clean separation of the parties\u201d and to \u201cmove forward with a renewed focus on our core operations.\u201d<\/span><\/h4>\n

<\/h4>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Islamabad: 04 April 2022 – Kyrgyzstan\u2019s government has struck a deal with a Canadian investor to end a years-long dispute over the huge Kumtor gold mine, thereby completing nationalization of an asset that accounts for around one-tenth of the country\u2019s economy. Under the\u00a0agreement\u00a0announced by President Sadyr Japarov on April 4, state-owned gold miner Kyrgyzaltyn will […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":14935,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[93],"tags":[2279,2353,496,1326,58],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pakistanintheworld.pk\/live\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14934"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pakistanintheworld.pk\/live\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pakistanintheworld.pk\/live\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakistanintheworld.pk\/live\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakistanintheworld.pk\/live\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14934"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/pakistanintheworld.pk\/live\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14934\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14936,"href":"https:\/\/pakistanintheworld.pk\/live\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14934\/revisions\/14936"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakistanintheworld.pk\/live\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14935"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pakistanintheworld.pk\/live\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14934"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakistanintheworld.pk\/live\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14934"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakistanintheworld.pk\/live\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14934"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}