Entrepreneurs experience great losses on Kyrgyz-Kazakh border
By Kamila Aliyeva
Kyrgyz entrepreneurs, stuck on the Kyrgyz-Kazakh border, lose about $23,500 daily.
This was stated by Kyrgyz Economy Minister Artem Novikov at a government meeting on the issue of applying measures on state support for entrepreneurs affected by the current situation on the Kyrgyz-Kazakh border.
A total of 349 drivers were surveyed in order to define the volume of cargo and damage, according to the minister.
"The situation is like this - 349 vans lose about $23,500. At the same time, diesel fuel costs amount to $8,600 dollars, food - $5,130, fines for late delivery of goods – $9,900. It is worth noting that the crossing time of one vehicle is 5-6 days," he said.
In general, losses for 5-6 days are about $180,000.
"We held consultations with business associations and for today the Ministry of Economy has drafted a resolution on measures to support entrepreneurs who have suffered damage due to the situation on the Kyrgyz-Kazakh border," the minister noted.
He informed that according to the resolution, the situation on the Kyrgyz-Kazakhstan border is recognized as force majeure. Therefore, support will be provided for tax payments, customs issues, social insurance and lending issues.
Following the meeting, the Prime Minister of Kyrgyzstan signed this decree.
Kazakhstan introduced additional control measures on the Kyrgyz-Kazakh and Russian-Kazakh state borders on October 10, 2017. The measures are taken as part of planned activities, according to Kazakh side.
Meanwhile, the average daily number of persons and vehicles from Kyrgyzstan decreased by 2.4 times at major and busiest checkpoints Ak-Zhol and Ak-Tilek after the introduction of additional control measures by the Kazakh side.
Since October 10, as many as 3,000 persons and 300 transport units cross the border daily.
Previously, more than 8,000 persons and over 600 transport units crossed the border daily.
Later, on October 18, during the meeting of Kyrgyz Prime Ministers Sapar Isakov and his Kazakh counterpart Bakytzhan Sagintayev in Astana, the parties agreed to ensure the priority order of crossing the state border for individuals with personal luggage, vehicles carrying out regular passenger transportation, motor transport, and empty cargo vehicles.
To date, the issues with loaded vans remain unresolved.
During the meeting of the EAEU states held on October 25, the sides couldn’t find the solution to the problem at the state border.
In January-August 2017, trade turnover between Kazakhstan and the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) member-states grew 31.6 percent to $10.8 million. In the total Kazakhstan-EAEU states trade turnover, Kyrgyzstan accounts for 4.3 percent.
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Kamila Aliyeva is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @Kami_Aliyeva
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