BISHKEK. Jan 22 (Interfax) - Former Kyrgyz Foreign Minister Muratbek Imanaliyev believes that the U.S. Transit Center pullout may have a negative effect on Kyrgyz-U.S. relations.
"This base (the U.S. Transit Center at the Bishkek Manas Airport) is the only link in official relations between the governments of Kyrgyzstan and the United States. If we insist on the base pullout every intergovernmental contact will stop," Imanaliyev told Interfax on Tuesday.
He emphasized it was "the question of official intergovernmental contacts."
Imanaliyev told Radio Azattyk earlier that "the republic became known internationally mostly thanks to the base, the presence of which forced partners to reckon with our country to a certain extent."
The U.S. Transit Center opened in Kyrgyz in July 2009. An intergovernmental agreement to the effect was signed in June 2009 for five years.
Meanwhile, Kyrgyz President Almazbek Atambayev said that the Transit Center would be withdrawn upon the agreement's expiration. He thinks there must be no military presence at the Manas Airport and the Transit Center premises would be transformed into a civil hub.
A passenger and cargo hub at the Manas Airport is a primary investment project included in the recent strategy of Kyrgyzstan's development until 2017.
The project will be implemented in 2014-2016. The investments are approximately estimated at $280 million.