Kyrgyz president-elect to make first official visit to Russia
By Kamila Aliyeva
The newly elected president of Kyrgyzstan Sooronbai Jeenbekov may pay his first official visit as a head of state to Russia.
This demonstrates Kyrgyzstan’s clear intentions to further deepen cooperation between the two countries, Izvestia newspaper reported.
The trip will take place immediately after the inauguration, in the second half of December, according to he president's office.
At the same time, the diplomatic sources stressed that the priority topics for discussion will be economic integration within the framework of the EAEU, military-technical cooperation within the CSTO framework as well as the issue of quotas for labor migrants.
Kyrgyzstan has repeatedly raised appealed for increasing quotas for labor migrants, allowing more Kyrgyz citizens to work in Russia.
In addition, practical scenarios of combating international terrorism and extremism in Central Asia, especially in connection with the unstable situation in Afghanistan, are expected to be discussed.
Despite the fact that the fifth head of Kyrgyzstan will take the office only in December, his entourage has already begun to plan the first steps in the foreign policy arena.
Moreover, as the chairman of the committee of Kyrgyz Chamber of Commerce and Industry Kubar Rakhimov noted, the priorities of the new Kyrgyz leader will not differ much from the main strategic guidelines of his predecessor, who also relied much on developing relations with Russia, other EAEU countries and China.
Former Prime Minister of Kyrgyzstan Sooranbai Jeenbekov won the presidential election on October 15 gaining 54 percent of the votes. Presidential term of the current President Almazbek Atambaev ends on December 2017.
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Kamila Aliyeva is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @Kami_Aliyeva
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