Author: Kurmanzhan Khasanov

Sulaiman-Too Sacred Mountain Sulaiman-Too Sacred Mountain Kyrgyzstan dominates the Fergana Valley and forms the backdrop to the city of Osh, at the crossroads of important routes on the Central Asian Silk Roads. For more than one and a half millennia, Sulaiman was a beacon for travellers revered as a sacred mountain. Its five peaks and slopes contain numerous ancient places of worship and caves with petroglyphs as well as two largely reconstructed 16th century mosques. One hundred and one sites with petroglyphs representing humans and animals as well as geometrical forms have been indexed in the property so far. The…

The results of the first Health Behaviour in School-Aged Children (HBSC) national study were presented during a roundtable on 10 February 2023 in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan – with the participation of representatives of government ministries, Parliament, public health organizations and the media. The survey was conducted by the National Centre of Maternity and Childhood Care and supported by WHO and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF). The nationwide survey covered 9649 school children aged 11, 13 and 15 in 172 targeted schools. The study looked at eating behaviours and oral health; physical activity; overweight, underweight and body image; alcohol and tobacco…

China is seeking to expand transportation and logistics infrastructure, trade links, prosperity, new opportunity for stability and growth, investment, technology and new markets, exports, industries, industrial promotion, green and digital economy, reducing electricity shortage, and increasing exchanges in Central Asia. We look at what this means for Kyrgyzstan. Introduction Upon the breakup of the USSR in 1992, China was one of the first countries to recognize Kyrgyzstan’s independence, and their joint statement on establishing relations focused on principles such as friendship and cooperation, mutual interests and development. Kyrgyzstan-China economic relations were minimal during the 1990s, but cooperation developed with the…

Russia’s efforts to establish “regional air defense systems” within the existing CIS joint air defense system are not new. The Russian government this week approved an agreement signed back in 2022 on the establishment of a common regional air defense system with Kyrgyzstan. While the agreement has long been in the works, the timing of Moscow’s procedural step has drawn attention, given the war in Ukraine and the precarious neutrality of Central Asia. On April 10, a decree signed by Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin was posted to an official Russian government portal. The brief decree, dated April 8, states approval of…

Russian firm building 100-rack facility for new local operator DataTime. Russian engineering systems integrator DataDome is to build a new data center in Kyrgyzstan’s capital city, Bishkek. The company this week announced plans to develop what it said will the be country’s first Tier III-quality data center. The new facility will accommodate 100 racks with a total capacity of at least 500kW. The facility will be operated by DataTime, a new local data center operator. Andrey Pavlov, general director of DataDome, said: “The DataDome team includes specialists who participated in the creation of most of the largest data centers in…

Polls ahead of the election had been predicting no overall winner, but Kyrgyzstan looks to have chosen its next president. With nearly 97 percent of the votes counted, former prime minister Sooronbai Jeenbekov was on track for surprise outright victory after preliminary results showed he had taken around 55 percent of the vote. His main rival, oil tycoon Omurbek Babanov, was well behind, on around 33 percent, according to the Central Asian state’s election commission. Both candidates are seen as pro-Russian. Kyrgyzstan is already a close ally of Moscow and home to a large Russian military base. Source: Euronews

Kenes Rakishev, former special envoy of the Kazakh government and current chairman of Fincraft Resources signed a memorandum of understanding, as well as a shareholder agreement with the Indian holding Monnet Group on the establishment of a joint venture in Kazakhstan for the production of ferroalloys. The company was named TB Alloys Kazakh Limited.The new plant is planned to be located in the industrial zone of the Taraz city. The company has already started pre-project work. At the first stage, the planned capacity of the enterprise will be up to 50 thousand tons of ferrosilicon per year with a gradual…