Kyrgyz to Seek Investment from Regional Neighbours

Although the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, SCO, is mainly focused on security and political issues, this year’s summit will give Kyrgyzstan the opportunity to vie for much-needed investment.



Kyrgyzstan holds the rotating chairmanship of the SCO this year, and the capital Bishkek is hosting the annual summit this August. Preparations are already under way, with new buildings going up in the city and old ones being repaired, and residents encouraged to participate in clean-up activities.



Kyrgyzstan was one of the founding members of the SCO, a regional grouping founded in 2001 that aims to ensure the collective security and stability of member states China, Russia, Kazakstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. India, Iran, Mongolia and Pakistan hold observer status.



Last week, the Kyrgyz government decided not to join the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries debt relief programme run by the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund. Analysts say that after turning down that chance to halve its two billion US dollar debt, Kyrgyzstan may find the August summit an opportune moment to try to derive concrete economic benefits from its membership of the SCO.



Finance Minister Akylbek Japarov says the government is pulling out all the stops to capitalise on the meeting.



“Finance ministry talks have begun on restructuring Kyrgyzstan’s debt to other SCO member states,” he told NBCentralAsia.



Anvar Anarbaev, who represents Kyrgyzstan at the SCO, notes that the grouping plans to launch 127 large economic projects, for which China has allocated 900 million dollars in loans. Some of these projects have already started in Kyrgyzstan: factories making cement, fertiliser and fibre-opticsare now being built.



“The SCO, which includes giants like China, Russia and Kazakstan with rapidly developing economies, offers Kyrgyzstan a unique opportunity to embark on economic projects that it will benefit from,” said Anarbaev.



Economist Jumakadyr Akeneev said that Kyrgyzstan could use the summit to lobby for larger projects - to construct railways and hydroelectric power stations, improve the infrastructure in remote regions, and complete the airport at Lake Issykkul, the country’s main tourist centre.



Sapar Orozbakov, director of the Bishkek-based Centre for Economic Analysis, warns that Kyrgyzstan will only succeed in attracting investment if it can demonstrate it is politically stable. If it cannot do so at the time of the summit, the event will end up merely costing the country money.



(News Briefing Central Asia draws comment and analysis from a broad range of political observers across the region.)