Former Soviet Republic Kyrgyzstan Trying to Become Part of World Community by Larry Luxner If proper names were permitted in Scrabble, Kyrgyzstan would be one of the highest-scoring countries in the world. Aside from its unusual spelling, this landlocked, weirdly shaped nation is probably the least visited of the 15 former Soviet republics. Roughly the size of Minnesota and just as cold in the winter, mountainous Kyrgyzstan was intentionally isolated by Moscow for 70 yearsóa legacy that contributed to its remoteness, even by Central Asian standards. ìEven after the Sept. 11 tragedy and the events in Afghanistan, Kyrgyzstan is still not known here,î said the countryís ambassador in Washington, Baktybek Abdrisaev. ìBut the more we cooperate with the United States, the more information is becoming available, not only through the mass media, but also through the network of our American friends here.î Abdrisaev, who has represented his country here since late 1996, is Kyrgyzstanís second ambassador to the United States. The first was Rosa Otunbayeva, who was sent to Washington shortly after the country achieved its independence from the Soviet Union on Aug. 31, 1991. The Kyrgyz Embassy occupies a four-story rented building along Wisconsin Avenue. At the entrance is a scale-model yurt, the traditional Kyrgyz nomadic dwelling made of birch poles that are bent and tied with rawhide straps, around which a circular trellis wall is erected. ìAs a country that was located along the old Silk Road, we have more than 80 ethnic nationalities,î Abdrisaev told The Washington Diplomat. ìOur 4.8 million inhabitants are primarily Kyrgyz Muslims, but we also have Uzbeks, Russians, Ukrainians, Chinese Muslims, German Mennonites, Koreans and about 2,000 Jews.î Despite its incredible ethnic and geographic diversity, Kyrgyzstan is one of the poorest countries of the former Soviet empire. Since independence 13 years ago, it has been struggling along the path toward democracy and free-market reforms, and in August 1993, Kyrgyzstan was the first ex-Soviet republic in Central Asia to issue its own currency, the som. Overseeing this transformation from Soviet backwater to independent nation has been Kyrgyzstanís only president, Askar Akayev. First elected in 1991, Akayev returned to office in 1995 and again in 2000 in balloting that some observers have said were tainted with fraud. According to Rowan Stewartís travel book ìKyrgyzstan, The Heartland of Central Asia,î ìpolitical maneuvering during the presidential and parliamentary elections in 2000 called into question the governmentís hitherto good record of running free and fair elections.î Yet Abdrisaev patiently denies accusations that Akayev is an authoritarian ruler, noting that Kyrgyzstanís press is considered the freest in Central Asia. ìWe are not a dictatorship, and a lot of people, especially Americans, recognize that,î he said. ìHow could you say this is a dictatorship? We have over 40 political parties in Kyrgyzstan, and very strong dissent. From the beginning, the president agreed to build an institution based on American standards.î Like the president, Abdrisaev, 46, is a physicist by training who specialized in applied optics and holography. In 1980, he graduated from the Bishkek Polytechnic Institute (now the Kyrgyz Technical University) and held a number of teaching positions there until joining the Akayev administration as an officialóand later headóof the International Affairs Department. Along the way, Abdrisaev also served five years as a member of the Kyrgyz Parliament. He holds a doctorate in applied physics and is the author of more than 60 scientific articles. As a result of his education, the ambassador speaks excellent Englishóone reason Akayev asked him to become Kyrgyzstanís envoy to the United States nearly eight years ago. He and his wife Cholpon have two children: an 11-year-old son, Bektur, and a 4-year-old daughter, Meerim. ìWashington is a great city, a kaleidoscope, changing every second. It is quite a challenge to work here,î he said, noting, ìThe United States was among the first countries to recognize our independence and open an embassy in our country.î As ambassador, Abdrisaev heads one of the smallest Washington missions of any of the former Soviet republics. The embassy has only six diplomats, compared to the 30 diplomats working at the large U.S. Embassy in Bishkek, the capital of Kyrgyzstan. Abdrisaev said his major goal is ìto spread information about our country, not only in Washington but all around the United States,î and secondly, to man a dialogue with the Bush administration and all the branches of government. ìWe are paying special attention to our relations with Congress,î he said. ìWe also cooperate with think tanks and [nongovernmental organizations] connected to promoting reforms and democracy-building. Weíre concentrating more on developing deeper trade and economic relations, but itís really difficult because of the small size of our country.î Abdrisaev noted that unlike Kazakhstan or Turkmenistan, Kyrgyzstan has no oil or gas reserves, although it does have hydroelectric power that it can export to neighboring China. The Chinese also represent a huge potential market for iron ore, wool, tobacco, cotton, and other mineral and agricultural exports. One export Kyrgyzstan can do without is drugs. Nearby Afghanistan is the worldís largest source of heroin and opium, and most of it is transported through Central Asiaóbroadly following the ancient Silk Road through Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan to the Caspian Sea, or north through Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan to Russia and Europe. Stewart, in his 2002 travel book, wrote that ìregional instability is further exacerbated by the fact that the Central Asian states are newly independent, still struggling with weak economies, rampant corruption and minimal neighborly cooperationóall factors that underpin growing poverty and social unrest.î The ambassador said that in ancient times, Kyrgyzstan was the crossroads for trade. ìNow, weíre the crossroads for drugs,î he lamented. ìThis is a real problem for us. We donít border Afghanistan, but we are becoming a transit point for drug trafficking from Afghanistan via Tajikistan, because the final destination is Europe, and we lay right in the path.î An even more serious problem is the spread of terrorism by some fanatic groups dedicated to turning the republics of Central Asia into Islamic fundamentalist states. The Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU)ólisted by the State Department as a terrorist organizationóhas launched several attacks into Kyrgyz territory. ìAs a result of three years of fighting with the IMU, we have had to appropriate a lot of money and resources to defense,î Abdrisaev said. ìWeíve become a victim of our geography.î In 2001, the Kyrgyz government gave permission for the Pentagon to build a large air base at Manas International Airport, about 19 miles outside of Bishkek and only 300 miles from the Chinese border. When completed, some 3,000 U.S. troops will permanently be stationed at the 37-acre facility, known as Ganci Air Base, along with two dozen fighter jets and support aircraft as part of the ongoing battle against terrorism. American influence in Kyrgyzstan is extending to other spheres as well. The ambassador, noting his countryís 99 percent literacy rate, said Americans are often surprised to learn how much the Kyrgyz people know about the outside world. In 1994, when former U.S. National Security Adviser Zbigniew Brzezinski visited Kyrgyzstan, he took an unannounced trip into the mountains and happened to meet a shepherd who recognized him from television. Former Vice President Al Gore has also visited Kyrgyzstan and was instrumental in establishing a university financed partly by the U.S. State Department and partly by the Soros Foundation. ìWe are trying to build a democratic society based on a market economy as soon as possible, but our initial expectations were really premature. We can see there are many factors which influence the real situation,î Abdrisaev explained. ìA lot of people agree that Kyrgyzstan is most advanced in Central Asia in reforms and democracy-building, but everything is dominated by external factors.î For example, he said, ìWe did everything absolutely according to the recommendations of the [International Monetary Fund] and the World Bank. In 1998, we became a member of the World Trade Organization. We thought this would make a big difference for us, but now we know that we have to wait longer, because there have to be more countries in the WTO in order to make any change in the economic situation.î Despite economic growth last year of 6.5 percent, ìit is not enough in order to solve our problems of poverty. Thatís why regional cooperation is the key. If weíre cut off from the global process, we will not survive.î To that end, on June 1, Kyrgyzstan signed a Trade and Investment Framework Agreement (TIFA) with four other Central Asian countries and the United States (see related story). For now, however, Russia and China remain Kyrgyzstanís biggest trading partners, and commerce with the United States is extremely limited. In 2003, Kyrgyzstan exported only $10.9 million worth of goodsómainly textiles and apparelsóto the United States. Imports from the United States, mostly machinery and agricultural commodities such as wheat, came to $39 million. At the same time, Kyrgyzstan is seeking improved ties with neighboring countries, particularly with Uzbekistan and Tajikistan, which have jurisdiction over seven small ethnic enclaves within Kyrgyz territory. ìWe want to develop relations on a friendly basis in order to maintain a dialogue because theyíre our neighbors and we have to deal with them,î Abdrisaev said. ìIn general, we have no big differences with them. We all have the same aim: to improve the lives of ordinary people and for our countries to become members of the world community.î Larry Luxner is a contributing writer for The Washington Diplomat. Kyrgyzstan, Four Other Central Asian Countries Finalize Trade Pact With United States On June 1, five Central Asian countriesóKazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistanójoined the United States to initiate a far-reaching Trade and Investment Framework Agreement (TIFA). The pact, signed by U.S. Trade Representative Robert B. Zoellick and the five countriesí ambassadors in Washington, creates a United States-Central Asia Council on Trade and Investment that will provide a forum to address trade issues that hamper regional economic development, such as intellectual property, labor and environmental issues. It will also seek to boost the participation of small- and medium-size businesses in global trade. ìMore than a decade after independence in Central Asia, the countries in the region are exploring new ways in which to open and liberalize trade. The United States is pleased to be a partner in this historic agreement with the five Central Asian countries,î said Zoellick, who was accompanied at the signing ceremony by Kazakh Ambassador Kanat Saudabayev, Kyrgyz Ambassador Baktybek Abdrisaev, Tajik Ambassador Khamrokhon Zaripov, Turkmen Ambassador Meret Orazov and Uzbek Ambassador Abdulaziz Kamilov. Together, these five former Soviet republics have a land area of 1.54 million square miles (with Kazakhstan alone accounting for two-thirds of the total), and a population of 55.9 million (with Uzbekistan accounting for nearly half of that). Last year, U.S. imports from the region totaled $570.5 million, while U.S. exports to those countries came to $548.1 million. Major exports to Central Asia include machinery and equipment, chemicals, agricultural products and aircraft. Major imports include mineral fuels, chemicals, textiles, metals and cotton. Less than a week before the TIFA signing, Zoellick and the trade ministers of five Central American countries and the Dominican Republic met in Washington to sign the Central American Free Trade Agreement (See June 2004 issue of The Washington Diplomat). That pact must still be ratified by Congress and the national legislatures of the six other countries involved. The United States already has TIFAs with a number of countries to enhance trade ties and coordinate regionally and multilaterally through regular senior-level discussions on trade and economic issues. Likewise, the Central Asian TIFA will establish a similar ongoing dialogue that Zoellick said ìwill help increase commercial and investment opportunities by identifying and working to remove impediments to trade and investment flows between the United States and Central Asia.î At present, only one of the five countries, Kyrgyzstan, is a member of the World Trade Organization. Three othersóKazakhstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistanóare negotiating accession to the WTO, leaving Turkmenistan as the only one without current or planned WTO membership. Ambassador Orazov, representing Turkmenistan, said he cannot overstate the importance of the TIFA for his country, which is a major exporter of oil and gas and ranks as the second largest cotton producer in Central Asia. ìAfter the collapse of the Soviet Union, but especially after 9/11, the U.S. began paying very serious attention to this region,î he said. ìThe United States recognizes how important this region is from a geopolitical standpoint. This agreement will serve in the long term to develop our countryís prosperity and good relations with the United States, while helping to encourage democracy in the region.î Orazov conceded that Turkmenistan and the four other countries have a long way to go in democratic reforms, but he insisted that the region has been unfairly portrayed in the Western media. ìA lot of journalists who try to write about Central Asia really donít know the situation,î he said, complaining that reporters often ignore history and tradition in their criticism of authoritarian regimes. ìIt is impossible to establish all democratic institutions immediately.î óLarry Luxner