Kazakhstan, Astana, July 20 / Trend K. Konyrova /
It is necessary to launch a Central Asian Union for power engineering. The Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev has talked about it a lot, Kyrgyz Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary Ambassador to Kazakhstan Zhanish Rustenbekov said in his interview with the Trend correspondent in Astana.
"Nursultan Nazarbayev's idea of establishing a Central Asian Union would assist in solving long-term problems and unsolved issues between our republics, especially on power engineering. So, a Union should be launched for power engineering," Rustenbekov said.
He said that establishing a Central Asian Union would help, on one hand, in supplying gas and coal, and on the other hand, in irrigating fields in the south of Kazakhstan. The difficult system of calculations gives an incentive for Republics to introduce a united regional currency.
Earlier, the Kazakh national company KEGOC, the system operator of Kazakhstan's united energy system, twice temporary left the Central Asian parallel energy system, in autumn 2008 and spring 2009. This decision was made because the electrical power lines in the Almaty-500 substation were switched off due to a sharp reduction in the capacity of Toktagul hydroelectric power station in Kirgizia. The south of Kazakhstan and Almaty were left without electricity.
Kazakhstan has failed in fully leaving the united energy system as it depends on the water supply from Toktogul in the spring-summer period for watering fields in the south of Republic.
"The Kazakh president's idea (establishing a Central-Asian Union) was supported by the Kyrgyz President, Kurmanbek Bakiyev. There are inter-state, inter-legal and inter-parliamentary councils. These organizations were established to bring Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan closer. Other Central Asian republics are likely to follow us," the Ambassador said.
According to the Kyrgyz embassy, the amount of turnover between Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan hit $560.7 million in 2008. This index increased 8.5 percent compared to 2007. Kazakhstan holds a leading position among CIS participant-nations. In 2008, the Kazak investments amounted to $333.9 million.
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