Monday, July 02, 2012 -
Kyrgyz Prime Minister Omurbek Babanov visited Kazakhstan on Monday to attend the Kyrgyz-Kazakh Intergovernmental Council in the Kazakh capital Astana.
Babanov met with his Kazakh counterpart Karim Massimov to discuss the payment of Kyrgyzgas to Kazakh gas supplier firms and the possible construction of a gas pipeline to Kyrgyzstan, the KyrTAG news agency reported.
Also discussed was the participation of Kazakhstan in the construction of more hydropower facilities in Kyrgyzstan.
Babanov also met with the director of Kazakhstan’s sovereign wealth fund Samruk-Kazyna, Umirzak Shukeyev, to discuss the possibility of investing in several Kyrgyz mining ventures. Kyrgyzstan lies on the Tien Shan gold belt, and also boasts silver, coal, and rare earths metals.
Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev also vowed to construct schools in Kyrgyzstan’s southern provinces, the site of deadly riots two years ago.
“Regarding the system of financing the construction of secondary schools in the city of Osh, at the expense of the Kazakh side...the architectural design of the high school [will be aligned] by the very highest technology and designed with a capacity of not less than 1,000 students,” KyrTAG quoted a government report issued during the meeting as saying.
Other topics discussed in the bilateral meetings included cooperation on the agriculture, industry, and disaster management fronts.