The first round of negotiations over the future of the American military base in the Kyrgyz airport Manas ended with no visible results.

American delegation left Bishkek on Friday after two days of talks in the Kyrgyz White House. The whole negotiation process was staged behind the closed doors. Even members of the Committee of International Affaires of the Kyrgyz Parliament were not invited to participate in the dialogue and were extremely disappointed by this fact. As one of Kyrgyz parliamentarians Melis Eshimkanov later mentioned in the interview to the TV station “Pyramid” it would be critical in the future to provide transparency for such talks. Members of parliament, according to Eshimkanov, are nowadays concerned about the fact that money coming from this deal will not end up in the State budget of Kyrgyzstan.

Though it’s still unclear what Kyrgyzstan can count on in terms of the rent that is to be paid by Pentagon for accommodating Ganci military base in the airport Manas. As Kyrgyz president Kurmanbek Bakiev announced earlier this spring the amount of the rent was to be increased in this case from 2,7 million dollars (quite a symbolic sum for America) to 200 million dollars. The latter sum comprises almost half of the annual state budget of Kyrgyz Republic). It’s still unclear how Kyrgyz government came up with this exact charge for American presence on the ground.
Allegedly, the decision to change the terms of the treaty announced by the president of Kyrgyzstan followed negotiations of Bakiev in Moskow. After coming back from the Russian capital in April this year Kyrmanbek Bakiev gave a deadline to Americans. The deadline was the first of June. This date was supposed to mark the beginning of the eviction of American troops in case Pentagon doesn’t agree to the new terms. According to Bloomberg, referring to the opinion of Colonel Christofer Langton from the International Institute for Strategic Studies in London, president Bakiev had an intention to push the rates up to the point that the US would find in impossible to stay. Events unfolding according to this scenario would have allegedly made happy Russia and China contesting the political and economic influence in the region from the US.

Apparently Kyrgyz leaders in this situation turned out to be really torn and even though in April 2006 president Bakiev seemed to be rather assertive and uncompromising towards Americans on behalf of the regional Shanghai Committee for cooperation where Russia and China currently play leading roles, in the beginning of June Kyrgyz government proved itself to be more thoughtful in terms of consequences that can follow the eviction of the American forces from Kyrgyzstan.

After American delegation left Kyrgyz capital the second round of negotiations was announced to be held later this summer. With no apparent results of the first round of talks Kyrgyz negotiators emphasized though that the positive tone of the dialogue and readiness for compromise would probably ensure the resolution of the problem in the nearest future. It’s obvious that Washington officials are expected to discuss the terms of the bargain and come back to Bishkek to finish the deal. Rumor has it that Kyrgyzstan may agree on 15 million $ per year.