Azernews.Az

By Aynur Jafarova

Kyrgyz President Almazbek Atambayev made important statements during a press conference devoted to the outcomes of 2012 on Monday.

Atambayev said all problems related to the economy are the results of stagnation seen in the past 20 years.

"Energy problems will remain until 2015. The entire energy system needs reconstruction. The same problems are in other fields of the economy," the president noted.

Atambayev expressed confidence that Russian gas giant Gazprom will pay off Kyrgyzgaz debt.

"Kyrgyzgaz debt will be paid off by Russian Gazprom company. To be honest, if we did not agree on alternative gas supply via Kazakhstan, we would not have gas in the country right now," the president said.

Atambayev said that during the negotiations he put forward a few conditions.

"I made conditions of guaranteed uninterrupted gas supply, this gas should be cheaper than the gas from Uzbekistan, Gazprom should invest half a billion som (Kyrgyz currency) in Kyrgyzgaz and, at last, exploration for gas should be carried out on the territory of the Kyrgyz Republic," Atambayev noted.

Atambayev added that he is "ashamed" of many things happening in Kyrgyzstan.

"We have been witnessing instability for many years, not only the past two," Atambayev said.

"I feel embarrassed when foreigners say that they will not come here any more, because of the dirt on the streets," he said.

Atambayev pointed out that he started resolving problems in Kyrgyzstan that accumulated for decades.

"Probably, I will not be able to resolve these problems in five years, but mostly they will be resolved or at least we will find a way to resolve them," Atambayev said.

Touching upon the Kambarata hydro-power plant project, Atambayev stressed that the construction project was developed in Tashkent.

"Kambarata HPP-1 is planned to be constructed for the water not to leave the Toktogul dam in the winter season. This project was designed in Tashkent," the president said.

"This project is needed both in Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan. Even if we have the right to construct something [Kambarata HPP-1], it doesn't mean that we shouldn't take into account the views of our neighbors. We have to go down the path of negotiations," Atambayev said.

"When we talked to Nazarbayev [Kazakhstan president] for the first time, he also was a little against it. I passed on some documents to Uzbekistan [for constructing the HPP], the situation with Uzbekistan is improving," Atambayev added.

The future of Dastan torpedo plant should be connected only with Russia, Atambayev said.

"I see the future of Dastan plant only with Russia. But I have to say that one of the Russian ministers was against Russian companies' coming to Dastan," the president added.

"If Dastan does not work with Russian companies, we risk loosing it. We can sell it, but about 1,000 people will lose their jobs. Only Russians can work with at this plant as there is their equipment," the president noted.

Atambayev also said he declined to sign the bill on official language which envisions fines for not knowing the Kyrgyz language.

The president said he will not sign the bill, but this is not related to Kyrgyzstan's good relations with Russia.

Atambayev also pledged to root out corruption by the end of his presidencial term.