Azernews.Az

The U.S. Transit Centre at Kyrgyz city of Manas will be closed in July 2014, Kyrgyz Deputy Foreign Minister Erines Otorbaev told KyrTAG on Tuesday.

"The Transit Centre at Manas will be closed on July 11, 2014. We informed the U.S. working group on this decision at the recent meeting. The conversation was conducted in line with Kyrgyzstan's well-known position on the issue," he said.

Otorbaev went on to say that the US must withdraw its military facilities, personnel and equipment prior the deadline and no US military presence must be left in Manas after July 11.

The Transit Center, formerly called a military base, was opened at the Manas airport in late 2001. The center is a major logistics hub for transportation of goods and the anti-terror coalition forces to Afghanistan. At present, it accommodates about 1,200 US soldiers. According to Pentagon statistics, the base handles up to 15,000 coalition servicemen and 500 tons of cargo a month.

Kyrgyz President Almazbek Atambayev said earlier that following the withdrawal of the U.S. military the airport has to become an entirely civilian facility. Atambayev has repeatedly said his country will not extend the stay of foreign military staff in its civil airport under any circumstances.

Kyrgyz statistics show that the airport serves 1.1 million passengers a year. If it suspends its main activity, the figure will drop to 300,000-400,000 people, and the airport will sustain a loss of $7.65 million annually.

It is estimated that if the new airport were to operate at full capacity, freight can bring a profit of $250 million per year, and maintenance of commercial aircraft would bring another $150 million.

Earlier the Kyrgyz parliament supported a bill on the denunciation of the agreement between the governments of Kyrgyzstan and the U.S. on Manas Transit Center in three readings. According to the bill, the transit center halts its activity in Kyrgyzstan on July 11, 2014.