Azernews.Az

By Aynur Jafarova

Kyrgyzstan presented a note to the U.S. on termination of the agreement on Manas transit center which was inked in 2009.

Kyrgyz Foreign Minister Erlan Abdyldayev handed the note to U.S. Ambassador Pamela Spratlen during the meeting which was held on November 14.

According to the note, the agreement with the U.S. regarding the transit center at Manas International Airport will expire on July 11, 2014.

The FM recalled that 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 and instructed the foreign ministry to carry out the appropriate procedures.

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. According to Pentagon statistics, the base handles up to 15,000 coalition servicemen and 500 tons of cargo a month.

The Pentagon said on October 18 that the U.S. Department of Defense has begun the process of relocation of the transit center.

The U.S. plans to complete the transfer of areas and facilities to the Kyrgyz Government by July 2014.

Meanwhile, given the fact that the U.S. transit center annually invests some $145 million in the Kyrgyz economy and pays $60 million to the country's budget for the lease of the territory, it is obvious that the closure of the transit center will have a negative impact on Kyrgyzstan's economy.

Besides Kyrgyzstan's $1.7 billion national budget losing $60 million annually, the economy as a whole will lose another $200 million of its expenditure of the budget associated with Manas.

International Monetary Fund's (IMF) official Christian Beddis believes that the closure of Manas transit center in 2014 will create financial problems in Kyrgyz.

Following the withdrawal of the U.S. military, Kyrgyzstan intends to make the airport an entirely civilian facility.

However, service and cheap aviation fuel are needed for the hub. Kyrgyzstan is not able to supply the aviation fuel; therefore, negotiations are underway with potential investors.

Negotiations on creating a hub in the transit center are underway with China, Turkey, Russia and other countries.

China, which has great interests in the Central Asian region, has the intention of creating a civil hub in the Manas airport.

Turkey is also ready to assist Kyrgyzstan in transforming the Manas airport to a civil hub. Tayyip Erdogan Recep, Turkish Prime Minister, confirmed his country's intension during his last visit to the country.