Medvedev calls for boost in trade with Kyrgyzstan

14:4814/06/2009

MOSCOW, June 14 (RIA Novosti) – Russia’s president called for stronger
trade ties with Kyrgyzstan at a meeting on Sunday with the country’s
leader, ahead of a summit of the post-Soviet CSTO security bloc.

Dmitry Medvedev told Kurmanbek Bakiyev that the global economic crisis
has caused a slight decline in Russia’s trade with the Central Asian
country.

"We need to think about how to boost trade activity, to prevent trade
turnover declining significantly due to the crisis," the Russian leader
said.

The Kyrgyz president said that the economic development of the whole
Central Asian regions depends on Russia’s economic success.

"If the Russian economy develops, then the economies of the Central
Asian states, including that of Kyrgyzstan, will also develop," Bakiyev
said.

The summit of the Collective Security Treaty Organization comprising
Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Uzbekistan and
Tajikistan was preceded by a meeting of the CSTO Council of Foreign
Ministers.