“You know, the former leadership of [the Kyrgyz Republic] with their biased attitude towards the undertaken international obligations has already spoiled outside image of Kyrgyzstan. In order to break that image somehow, we just have to execute an already concluded agreement. The contract for the Transit Center will expire in 2014. Our position is the following: we will notify in six months the U.S. side of the termination of the contract in full compliance with assumed obligations and from 2014 there will be the first major civilian international transport junction. Any capital can participate in the formation of his transport junction even though the Russian although the western.”
(That last comment appears to reference his previously stated plan to turn Manas into an international cargo transit facility.)
Needless to say, this shouldn't be taken as the final word. 2014 is three years away, who knows if Atambayev will still be in the government, and the U.S. hasn't had a chance to negotiate. Still it's an interesting statement by Atambayev, one of the leading candidates in Kyrgyzstan's October presidential elections. He seems to be trying to position himself as the pro-Russia candidate, so this is a natural political position for him to stake out.
Atambayev did break a bit of news, saying that the contract with Mina Corp will end, and the Kyrgyz-Russian joint venture will take over, next month:
“The situation when kerosene was supplied to the base through a series of unintelligible middlemen is reaching back. We have already agreed on a contract in all respects, in terms of deliveries, in volume with the Russian side and with the USA. The contract will be signed in September and the first delivers will begin. We will start with ambitious plans; the joint venture must demonstrate that it copes with assumed obligations within three months. Then in prospect we want to bring its share in the supplies of up to 90 percent of all jet fuel the base requires,” noted Almazbek Atambayev.
In June, an industry analyst told my EurasiaNet colleague that the departure of Mina Corp. will be a "major headache" for the Defense Logistics Agency, the Pentagon organization that manages fuel deliveries to Manas. That's because Mina Corp., for all its murky background, has a solid record of delivering fuel on time to the base. There's no guarantee that the new joint venture will do the same.
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