Economic aid to Central Asian states strategic investment – Russian diplomat

Map of Central Asia, Including Commonwealth of Independent States Members

(Interfax – MOSCOW, September 10, 2013) The Central Asian region is important for Russia, just as Russia is important for Central Asia, Russia’s Deputy Foreign Minister Grigory Karasin said in an interview published by the business daily Kommersant on Tuesday.

“In some instances our relations were elevated by mutual agreement to the level of strategic partnership and even allied relations. Also, Russia and its Central Asian friends intensively cooperate in the Commonwealth of Independent States, in the Collective Security Treaty Organization and in the Customs Union which emerged from the Eurasian Economic Community,” Karasin said.

Russia has been providing significant support to the Central Asian states by world donation standards, he also said.

“In the nearest estimate, Russia’s aid to Central Asian states exceeded $1 billion in 2008-2012. This figure does not include spending on the training of thousands of students and specialists in various professions, from civilian to military,” he said.

In addition to this, Russia writes off some Central Asian countries’ debts, he said.

It will write off a total of about $500 million from Kyrgyzstan, whose economy is in need of support , he said.

Russia’s economic aid to the Central Asian countries is “an investment in their future and in our strategic interests,” Karasin said.

“If we want to build long-term cooperation with Kyrgyzstan, which is not large, we will have to spend some and facilitate that country’s economic development by investing in companies that have not been working effectively enough, helping them to pick up the pace. This is happening not only in Central Asia, but in other regions, as well,” Karasin said.

“We are interested in maintaining peace and stability in the entire Central Asian region, taking the Afghanistan-2014 factor into account. Kyrgyzstan, as our ally and partner in the Collective Security Treaty Organization, is playing a great role in this process,” he said.

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