The President of Kyrgyzstan and The King of the Belgians.
Brussels, 16 February 2017: IV President of the Kyrgyz Republic, Almazbek Sharshenovich Atambayev, arrived to Brussels. During his working visit, the Kyrgyz President held bilateral meetings with HM King Philippus of the Belgians as well as multilateral talks with the chairmen of the European Council Donald Tusk, the European Commission Jean-Claude Juncker and the European Union High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Federica Mogherini.
During the visit, two documents were signed to enhance cooperation between Kyrgyzstan and European Union on key fields. Under the rule of law programme, €30 million will be provided for the modernisation of the Kyrgyz legislative process. This is one more tranche. Earlier, the European Union has already allocated €9.5 million to strengthen the rule of law in Kyrgyzstan and another €30 million — in the framework of macro-financial assistance.
About €72 million are planned for agriculture programmes. The monies will be spent on the development of seven regions of the country within 7 years. The first tranche is aimed for Jalal-Abad region.
Concerning relations to Belgium, trade turnover between the countries is growing. According to the Ministry of Economy, for the first 9 months of 2016 it amounted to $ 16,342 million. Exports amounted to $ 8,489 million, import — $ 7,853 million. Kyrgyzstan exports to Belgium gold, antimony and its compounds, automobile parts, non-ferrous metals, radiators, products from ferrous metals. Belgium supplies to Kyrgyzstan industrial equipment, mechanical devices, equipment and components, vehicles, pharmaceutical, perfumery and cosmetic products, food products, lubricants, paper, cardboard and products made of it.
The sides also do not forget about cultural development. In 2016, cinemas in Belgium screened a documentary ‘A man and a horse’ about a journey to Kyrgyzstan by a French film director Robinot. As a further display of cultural exchanges President Atambayev and Foreign Minister Erlan Abdyldaev donated the archives of Kyrgyz artist and first ambassador to Belgium and the then European Communities, Chyngyz Aitmatov, to Belgium. Archival materials were handed over to the country by the honorary professor of the Free University of Brussels, a member of the Royal Academy of Archeology of Belgium Jean Blancoff. Chyngyz Aitmatov was a prolific writer in Kyrgyz and Russian languages.
For further information:
President of the Kyrgyz Republic, HE President Almazbek Sharshenovich Atambayev: http://eng.president.kg
Missions of Kyrgyzstan to the EU, the OPCW and the Benelux countries, HE Ambassador Asein Isaev: https://www.facebook.com/KyrgyzEmbassyInBrussels/?fref=ts
Chinghiz Aitmatov: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinghiz_Aitmatov
