An official visit of president of Kyrgyzstan Kurmanbek Bakiev to
Kazakhstan (Astana) will be held 17-18th April.

Recently, the Bishkek Press Club (BPC) collected the opinions of
politicians and political scientists about the upcoming visit.

Kyrgyz political scientist Nur Omarov told in the interview to Bishkek
Press Club that the visit would be a significant event.

“Actually this visit will be of great importance for both states. It
means the start of the work of the intergovernmental union of
Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan. Particularly, it will help to make a new
impulse for the renewal of the migration processes in the region,
which were almost lost in 2005″, Nur Omarov stated.

Nur Omarov also thought the main questions are the protection of the
interests of the migrant workers and encouraging the investments not
only within the hydroelectric sector but also within extractive
industries.

Kazakh political scientist Eduard Poletaev is sure there won’t be any
surprises during the visit.

“I think, Kurmanbek Bakiev is going to Kazakhstan with a ready “pack”
of proposals and Astana also has a similar one. There won’t be
anything fundamentally new, because there hasn’t been anything new in
the relations between Kazakhstan and Kyrygzstan for the last year. It
will be the internal Turkic dialogue of two brotherly nations without
any surprises”, Eduard Poletaev told to the BPC.

Vice-speaker and “Ak-zhol” party member Kubanychbek Isabekov said
there would be two main questions to solve: boundary problems and the
ownership of 4 resorts at Issyk-Kul lake. He also added that
Kyrgyzstan should arrange for seed delivery from Kazakhstan with lower
prices and make an attempt to get a quota for the work places for the
migrant workers.

Ex-deputy of kyrgyz parliament Temir Sariev thinks that the visit will
be dedicated to the boundary question, resorts at Issyk-Kul and the
privatization of SeverElektro and the cogeneration plant and heating
system of Bishkek city.

President of Kazakhstan last visited Kyrgyzstan on 26th April in 2007.
As a result of that meeting, Kurmanbek Bakiev and Nursultan Nazarbaev
signed a package of important bilateral documents.

This upcoming visit precedes a question regarding 4 resorts at the Issyk-Kul
lake. During the official visit of the president of Kyrgyzstan
Kurmanbek Bakiev in Kazakhstan (Astana) in 2006, an agreement was
reached about renting 4 resorts for 49 years to Kazakhstan. This
agreement should have been ratified by the Kyrgyzstan parliament.
However, it hasn’t and the question of the 4 resorts has been raised
again recently.