BISHKEK. Nov 15 (Interfax) - The Kyrgyz authorities' decision to shut down the U.S. Transit Center, located at Manas International Airport near Bishkek, is hugely important, Leonid Slutsky, chairman of the State Duma Committee for CIS Affairs and Eurasian Integration, said.
"Yesterday's presentation by the foreign minister of Kyrgyzstan of a note notifying [the United States] of the impending expiry of two agreements on Manas was a landmark event," Slutsky said in Bishkek on Friday.
"For us, it means that the implementation of joint agreements reached by the presidents of Russia and Kyrgyzstan is proceeding at a rapid pace," he said.
"I am convinced that we, parliamentarians, will do our best to build upon this crucial dossier in the sphere of parliamentary diplomacy," Slutsky said.
Slutsky said that he and Kyrgyz parliamentarians were going to discuss issues concerning Kyrgyzstan's accession to the Customs Union, formed by Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan, as well as joint projects in the energy sector, the situation with migrant workers and Kyrgyz-Russian contacts within international organizations, including the Collective Security Treaty Organization and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization.
On November 14, Kyrgyz Foreign Minister Erlan Abdyldayev presented a note to U.S. Ambassador to Kyrgyzstan Pamela Spratlen, notifying the U.S. authorities that the agreement with the U.S. regarding the Manas Transit Center would expire on July 11, 2014.
The document stipulates that the U.S. air base has to be pulled out of Kyrgyzstan by this date.