Kyrgyzstan not discussing new deal on U.S. airbase presence at Manas airfield - official
BISHKEK. Nov 15 (Interfax) - Kyrgyzstan and the United States are not discussing the possibility of concluding a new agreement on the presence of U.S. military servicemen in the country after the closure of the U.S. airbase located at the Manas airfield outside Bishkek, known as the Manas Transit Center, planned in 2014.
"The issue of a new agreement [with the United States] has not been brought up and is not being discussed," Sapar Isakov, the chief of the presidential international affairs department, told Interfax on Friday.
The expiration of a Kyrgyz-U.S. agreement on the Manas Transit Center's presence in Kyrgyzstan in July 2014 will have no effect on bilateral cooperation between Kyrgyzstan and the U.S., he said.
"This cooperation will not come to naught, and it will be further developing," Isakov said.
Kyrgyzstan "has a number of projects with the United States of America in various sectors, including in the security area, and cooperation between our countries will continue in the areas of mutual interest," he said.
"The U.S. is a reliable partner and a reliable guide for Kyrgyzstan in strengthening and developing democracy, we have a lot of areas for cooperation and good prospects for political interaction, and we are implementing a number of major projects," Isakov said.
Kyrgyz Foreign Minister Erlan Abdyldayev presented a note to U.S. Ambassador to Kyrgyzstan Pamela Spratlen on November 14 to notify the United States that two Kyrgyz-U.S. intergovernmental agreements concerning the Manas Transit Center's presence in Kyrgyzstan will expire on July 11, 2014. Before this date, the U.S. servicemen have to leave Kyrgyzstan.
