Following the U.S. Department of Defense’s recent decision to award controversial Mina Corporation with a $315 million contract to provide jet fuel to the U.S. Air Force base in Kyrgyzstan, the Kyrgyz government is urging the United States to suspend its dealings with the company.
President Obama will meet with Kyrgyzstan President Roza Otunbayeva on Friday in New York, where both leaders will be attending the United Nations General Assembly.
Ambassador Robert O. Blake, U.S. Assistant Secretary for South and Central Asian Affairs, presented an overview of the current U.S. policy towards Kyrgyzstan. Additional recommendations were offered by Carnegie Senior Associate Dr. Martha Brill Olcott.
On July 15 Kyrgyzstan took several significant steps in its efforts to restore public confidence in the south by announcing national and international investigations into the June violence. The two investigations would work in cooperation with each other.
On July 3, Roza Otunbayeva, the first female leader in the history of Central Asia, was sworn in as president of Kyrgyzstan in a simple ceremony in Bishkek. Her presidency received overwhelming popular support in the June 27 referendum and a warm welcome from regional leaders.
In partnership with the Institute for War & Peace Reporting (IWPR) office in Bishkek, the Carnegie Endowment held the first of a series of round-table discussions on contemporary politics in Kyrgyzstan.
Presidents Obama and Medvedev should be seeking the advice of Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan’s presidents with the aim of working together to form an international action plan on Kyrgyzstan.
