Kirgizstan seeks closer economic ties with the EU

The EU’s strategy for central Asia should focus on boosting economic ties, according to one of the region’s leading politicians.

Daniyar Usenov, Kirgizstan’s first vice-prime minister, welcomed the EU’s decision to develop its relations with the five countries of central Asia but cautioned against making ties conditional on respect for human rights.

He said that efforts must focus on developing foreign direct investment and building infrastructure.

"We think that the main aim of our partnership is the mutually fruitful economic co-operation," Usenov said during a visit to Brussels on Tuesday (13 February).

Kirgizstan, whose citizens, according to the World Bank, are as poor as those of Haiti or Laos, is seen by the EU as the most democratically advanced country in the region.

A draft central Asia strategy being discussed by EU member states describes Kirgizstan as "the only partner in central Asia, which offers an example, however fragile, of a political model different from the one prevailing …in central Asian states".

The draft plan has been criticised by members of the European Parliament and analysts for putting the EU’s economic and energy interests before human rights and democratisation.

Usenov urged caution on making ties conditional on respect for human rights and democratisation. But he said that economics must keep in step with democratic reforms.

"The meaning of all reforms, political and economic is to make the lives of ordinary people better. Only after [this] will the majority of the population support reforms," he said.

He cited the banking sector as an area where the EU could help.

The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development has targeted Kirgizstan’s vast hydrological potential as a key area of investment, but Usenov said more was needed to help Kirgizstan to export this energy to Pakistan or Afghanistan.

Usenov dismissed suggestions that the EU’s engagement could prompt a geopolitical tussle between China, Russia, the EU and the US.

"Traditionally the central Asian region was at the crossroads of interests of great states like China or India," he said.

"We are developing our relations with neighbours…at the same time we are giving very great importance to our relations with the European Union, with the United States and with the Arab world," he said.

EU member states are expected to agree to step up their engagement with Kazakhstan, Kirgizstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan before the end of the German presidency on 30 June.

The EU’s strategy for central Asia should focus on boosting economic ties, according to one of the region’s leading politicians.