KYRGYZSTAN: Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao visits Kyrgyzstan ahead of the upcoming Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit

Record ID: 872779

  • Title: KYRGYZSTAN: Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao visits Kyrgyzstan ahead of the upcoming Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit
  • Date: 4th December 2012
  • Summary: BISHKEK, KYRGYZSTAN (DECEMBER 4, 2012) (REUTERS) TRAFFIC ON STREET VARIOUS OF HONOUR GUARD AT NATIONAL HERO MONUMENT IN CENTRAL BISHKEK EXTERIOR OF AIRPORT ADMINISTRATIVE BUILDING KYRGYZ, CHINESE, AND OTHER NATIONAL FLAGS ON MASTS
  • Embargoed: 19th December 2012 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Kyrgyzstan
  • City:
  • Country: Kyrgyzstan
  • Topics: International Relations,Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVAA1NWKQI442NXFWQLT1NVQVQGF
  • Aspect Ratio:
  • Story Text: China's Prime Minister Wen Jiabao met with Kyrgyz Prime Minister Zhantoro Satybaldiyev in Bishkek on Tuesday (December 4) ahead of an upcoming SCO summit.
    Chinese President Hu Jintao has said that Beijing will offer $10 billion in loans to the member states of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation.
    Wen Jiabao stressed the importance of cooperation between China and Kyrgyzstan.

    "Holding a meeting of heads of the governments of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation in your country is of big importance both for your country and for our region as a whole. In this regard the Chinese side is ready to grant you all possible assistance and support. I would like to use this possibility for a thorough exchange of opinions with you on issues of bilateral dimension as well as on issues of common interest," he said during the talks with Satybaliyev through an interpreter.
    The SCO, founded in 2001, includes China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. Iran, India, Pakistan and others attend the summits, but not as full members.
    Kyrgyzstan, where two presidents have been toppled in violent revolts since 2005 and per capita GDP is less than a tenth of that in next-door Kazakhstan, badly needs foreign investment to alleviate poverty that stokes instability.
    The former Soviet republic, which hosts both U.S. and Russian military air bases, has struggled to build Central Asia's first parliamentary democracy since former President Bakiyev's ouster in 2010.
    Wen is set to travel to Russia after his time in Kyrgyzstan on Wednesday (December 5).
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2012. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
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