Kyrgyzstan ready to become bridge providing access to Central, West Asia - PM

BISHKEK. March 1 (Interfax) - Kyrgyzstan stands ready to act as a bridge for all countries interested in gaining access to Central and West Asia, Kyrgyz Prime Minister Akylbek Japarov said.

"We are ready to act as a bridge for all countries interested in access to Central and West Asia," Japarov was quoted by the Kyrgyz government's press service as saying at a meeting with Uzbek Prime Minister Abdulla Aripov and Ma Xingrui, secretary of the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Regional Committee of China's Communist Party, on Friday.

Xinjiang is like a gate to China for Kyrgyzstan, he said.

"Historically and due to its location, Kyrgyzstan also becomes a gate for China to reach several Central Asian countries at once. In this context, the project to build a China-Kyrgyzstan-Uzbekistan railroad will have an invaluable positive impact on the rapid development of trade and economic cooperation between the three countries," Japarov said.

He also emphasized the need to optimize the operations of the Irkeshtam border crossing.

"The issue of increasing the cargo handling capacity of the Irkeshtam checkpoint is relevant both to the Kyrgyz, Chinese and Uzbek sides. In this context, it is important for our countries to boost the throughput capacity by modernizing border crossings, expanding their territories and providing them with modern customs control equipment. The Kyrgyz side's goal is to increase the throughput capacity to 1,000 vehicles a day," Japarov said.