Kyrgyzstan borders Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, and Tajikistan — friendly states that are close in cultural-historical, ethnic, and confessional terms, and is also located in the same region as another Central Asian state — Turkmenistan. Kyrgyzstan actively participates in various integration processes, in which other Central Asian countries are also involved to varying degrees. Currently, the Central Asian countries are addressing unresolved issues from the past that affect various aspects of interstate relations. These include border, demographic, interethnic, religious, environmental, transport-communication issues, and land use matters.
Unfavorable factors for the region's development include its landlocked position, lack of direct access to global communications, underdeveloped transport and communication infrastructure, and remoteness from centers of economic and political influence.
A relatively favorable factor for Kyrgyzstan is its rich natural-energy and raw material resources. At the same time, there are ongoing anthropogenic environmental threats, particularly from the tailings of uranium ores left over from past practices, which pose dangers to the entire region; there is a high probability of landslides, earthquakes, and other types of natural disasters and catastrophes.
Recognizing the common interests in economic development, the presidents of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Uzbekistan signed a Treaty on the Creation of a Unified Economic Space on April 30, 1994. In 1998, the Republic of Tajikistan became a full participant in the Treaty. Soon, the regional association of states participating in the Treaty was named the Central Asian Economic Community (CAEC).
The majority of more than 250 documents adopted within the framework of the CAEC were aimed at ensuring the legal, economic, and organizational conditions for the creation of a unified economic space.
On February 28, 2002, the Central Asian Economic Community was transformed into the Organization of Central Asian Cooperation (OCAC). Russia's accession to the OCAC on October 18, 2004, marked an important milestone in the organization's activities. Kyrgyzstan believes that Russia's active participation in the OCAC will undoubtedly contribute to further strengthening multifaceted cooperation among member states in all areas and will serve as a catalyst for integration processes in the region.
It is particularly noteworthy that the states of the Central Asian region are striving for economic integration with Europe and Asia. In March 1998, the presidents of the Cooperation states and the executive secretaries of the UN Economic Commission for Europe, and the UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific signed the Tashkent Declaration on the Special Program of the UN for the Development of the Economies of the Five Central Asian States (SPECA) and agreed to begin its implementation. The SPECA program initially covered areas of cooperation in developing transport infrastructure and simplifying the crossing of state borders, utilizing the region's energy and water resources, attracting foreign investment, delivering hydrocarbon raw materials via pipelines to global markets, and restructuring industries to create internationally competitive industrial enterprises.
The state of relations with neighboring countries is a crucial factor determining security in the region and in Kyrgyzstan, the normal functioning of the country's economy, the prospects for implementing reforms, and the possibility of accessing global and continental communication infrastructure. This necessitates maintaining and developing friendly relations with neighboring states based on mutual understanding, mutually beneficial cooperation, and finding a balance of interests. In this regard, a strategic task is to deepen regional economic integration (within the framework of OCAC and other structures) based on balanced interdependence and the formation of mutually beneficial relationships for the use of natural resources of the countries in the region.
To develop interstate relations with countries in the region, primarily bilateral and regional mechanisms can be used, as well as multilateral security structures at the regional and global levels (CSTO, SCO, CIS, OSCE, OIC, UN).
Kyrgyzstan — OCAC
Recognizing the common interests in economic development, the presidents of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Uzbekistan signed a Treaty on the Creation of a Unified Economic Space on April 30, 1994. Membership in this international organization allowed Kyrgyzstan to find its niche in regional integration processes, the main goals of which corresponded to its national interests:
• rational use of water resources and ensuring environmental safety in the region;
• trade cooperation;
• creation of a unified market for agricultural products;
• effective use of mineral raw materials and fuel-energy resources;
• production cooperation aimed at producing competitive products of high readiness;
• creation of a unified transport and communication system with access to external markets;
• development of the banking system;
• development of market infrastructure;
• creation of conditions for entrepreneurship development;
• scientific and technical cooperation.
