Kyrgyz parliament to mull bill on transit of NATO cargos
BISHKEK. March 19 (Interfax) - The Kyrgyz government has tabled a bill in parliament the agreement with NATO on the transit of land cargo across the republic in the context of the withdrawal of the alliance from Afghanistan in 2014, Interfax was told at the Cabinet press service on Tuesday.
The relevant agreement was signed in May 2012 during the NATO summit in Chicago.
The memo posted on the Kyrgyz government website notes that it was signed "following the decision of NATO to withdraw its troops from Afghanistan."
"In compliance with the said agreement NATO plans to transport cargo for the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) along the Afghanistan-Tajikistan-Kyrgyzstan-Kazakhstan transit route," the document says.
It also says that NATO signed similar agreements with Russia, Kazakhstan and Tajikistan. The transit of ISAF cargo across Uzbekistan is conducted only in the direction of Afghanistan, hence there is a need for their transit along the northern route in the opposite direction across the territories of Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan.
"The agreement is of strategic significance for NATO. At the same time the implementation of the agreement has economic benefit for Kyrgyzstan because all the transportation will be conducted on a commercial basis," the government note says.
Presently the United States Transit Center functions at Manas airport in Bishkek which serves as the logistical center of supporting the ISAF operation in Afghanistan.
The June 2009 agreement with the United States on the Transit Center expires in the summer of 2014 and the Kyrgyz authorities have announced that after that the U.S. military will have to leave the grounds of the civilian airport.
Meanwhile, Kyrgyz President Almazbek Atambayev has said that the demand on the withdrawal of the military from Manas airport does not mean "we will not offer help in the sphere of transportation, we are saying that there should be no military personnel of any country at a civilian airport."
