BISHKEK. May 31 (Interfax-AVN) - The stationing of an airbase of the international antiterrorist coalition at the Manas airport in Kyrgyzstan is an important element of Kyrgyz-U.S. cooperation, and the two countries are working on a new agreement that will stipulate its further functioning, Kyrgyz Foreign Minister Alikbek Dzhekshenkulov told the press on Wednesday.
"Issues of cooperation between Kyrgyzstan and the U.S. on the coalition's airbase in this country are an important aspect of bilateral relations," Dzhekshenkulov told journalists on Wednesday.
"We are working on an agreement to make this base work in line with our bilateral understandings," he said.
Kyrgyz-U.S. relations are developing well, Dzhekshenkulov said. "Diplomacy is a two-way process. We cannot be blamed of adopting a lopsided approach. We proceed from national interests, taking into account all the priorities and foreign political goals. This includes the country's security, its economic interests, and the development of cultural and humanitarian cooperation with all countries," he said.
Kyrgyzstan's foreign policy "is realistic and pragmatic, and it will remain balanced and multi-dimensional," he said.
Meanwhile, Karganbek Samakov, head of the parliamentary international affairs and inter-parliamentary links committee, told journalists "the parliamentarians have a lot of questions concerning the U.S. Gansi Air Base."
"These are the unsanctioned dumping of fuel by the coalition's aircraft, supplies of fuel and lubricants to the base, the rent payment and other issues," Samakov said.
"But for some reasons that remain unclear, the government keeps the parliament in the dark on this information, and we are still unaware of when the negotiations on new terms for the stationing in Kyrgyzstan will begin," he said.
"Any agreement on the airbase must be ratified by the Kyrgyz parliament," he said.
Kyrgyzstan and the U.S. signed an agreement on the deployment of the Gansi Air Base at the Manas international airport on December 4, 2001, during the active phase of the antiterrorist operation in Afghanistan. Kyrgyz President Kurmanbek Bakiyev on April 16, 2006, hinted that Kyrgyzstan might sever the agreement unilaterally if the U.S. did not agree to revise the deal by June 1, 2006, toward increasing the rent.
Official reports say Kyrgyz-U.S. negotiations on a revision of the agreement should take place this week.