Kyrgyzstan invited into Turkey-Central Asia railroad project
BISHKEK. April 10 (Interfax) - Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has invited Kyrgyzstan to join the project of laying a railroad from Turkey to Central Asia through Georgia and offered Kyrgyzstan "help with engineering projects."
"We offer more extensive economic cooperation to Kyrgyzstan. I've brought 104 businessmen with me to Bishkek today who want to invest in the local economy," Erdogan told a news conference after talks with Kyrgyz President Almazbek Atambayev.
"Neither Turkey nor Kyrgyzstan have their own oil, and soon water will be more expensive than oil, and this will become a lucrative investment," Erdogan said.
In answering questions from reporters, the Turkish prime minister denied that the hypothetical extension of an agreement with the United States allowing the latter to keep its military transit center at Bishkek's Manas airport came up during his talks with Atambayev.
"Not a single word about the military base was said during this meeting or previous meetings. It's a purely internal matter of Kyrgyzstan," Erdogan said.
Atambayev thanked Turkey for supporting Kyrgyzstan "during hard times for the republic, writing off a debt of $50 million, making an easy-term loan of $100 million and providing a grant of $6 million."