Kyrgyzstan seeks to bring in Chinese factories for new era of industrialisation
Kyrgyzstan is in talks with China about relocating dozens of Chinese plants and factories to the Central Asian nation, Foreign Minister Erlan Abdyldayev said on Sunday.
China is a major supplier of consumer and industrial goods to the ex-Soviet Central Asia and an importer of local commodities such as oil, gas and metals.
Now, Kyrgyzstan, whose economy has been hit hard by the recession in Russia and a slump in gold output, wanted to have some of those goods produced on its territory and by its own workers, Abdyldayev said.
China’s Central Asia diplomacy can bring stability and growth
“In the nearest future, we will hand over to the Chinese side the projects for 40 companies that we plan to implement as part of a project to move excess production lines from China to Kyrgyzstan,” he told reporters in comments that followed his meeting with Chinese counterpart Wang Yi in Bishkek.
“This must help the new industrialisation of Kyrgyzstan.”
Abdyldayev declined to provide any financial details or give examples of planned projects. Kyrgyzstan’s oil-rich neighbour Kazakhstan announced similar plans to attract Chinese businesses in 2014.
Abdyldayev said Bishkek was also in talks with Beijing about completing a set of hydroelectric power plants in Kyrgyzstan which Russia has withdrawn from due to financial problems.
Wang’s trip to Central Asia continues until tomorrow.
He is visiting Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan.
While there he will join other foreign ministers at a meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation.
In his talks with Kazakhstan’s Foreign Minister Yerlan Idrisov on Saturday, Wang said the two nations should improve strategic communication and push forward cooperation on industrial capacity.
He added that the two nations would seek cooperation in transport, agriculture, investment and tourism.
