Central Asia Watch Team : Mathieu Bailly and Denis Lavaud
04/04/2022 : Agreement between the Kyrgyz Republic and the Canadian gold mining company Centarra around the Kumtor mine. – Mathieu Bailly
This monday, April 4th, Kygkiz president Sadyr Zhaparov claimed that an agreement was made around the Kumtor Mine conflict.
Mai 2021 marks the debut of the conflict, with the freeze of 26% of the Stake of the Toronto-based mining company Centarra for not binding to environmental restrictions. For references, the Kumtor mine is the second largest mine in the world and generates approximately 394 millions USD in profit over the year 2020.
The agreement aimed to resolve this conflict by, in exchange of a 36 millions USD payment, in which 25 millions would go to the Canadian government, and 11 millions to the Kyrgiz government, according 100% of its Kyrgiz based sector, therefore handing over the control of the Kumtor mine to the government.
UN deputy spokesperson Farhan Haq affirmed in a press-conference that the United Nations took note of the agreement
04/08/2022: Call between the President of Uzbekistan and the President of Kyrgyzstan on the construction of the hydroelectric station of Kambaratinskaya and on the new China-Kyrgyzstan-Uzbekistan railway line. – Denis Lavaud –
On March 8, Uzbkek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev held a call with his Kyrgyz counterpart, Sadyr Zhaparov. The talk were focused on the wish to speed up the construction of the Kambaratinskaya hydroelectric power station (GES-1), on the new railway line connecting China, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan, on the wish for the development of the industrial cooperation between the two countries, as well as on the project to create an Uzbek-Kyrgyz Investment Fund.
“The presidents discussed the realization of the agreements of strengthening friendship between the two countries, their neighborly relations, as well as strategic partnerships and the strengthening of cooperation and coordination of joint projects”, according to the spokesperson of the Uzbek Presidency.