The Kyrgyz community in Qatar marked their nation's 27th Independence Day on Friday with a special event. About 500 Kyrgyz are working in Qatar and a large number of them had turned up on the occasion.
Kyrgyzstan became an independent country in 1991 after the disintegration of the former Soviet Union and the Independence Day is marked on August 31.
"As we celebrate our Independence Day, we are also marking the 20th year of Kyrgyz Qatar relationship. We have the history of a very long period of diplomatic ties. The embassy of Kyrgyzstan was set up in Qatar in 2016 and the relations between both the countries have been cemented,” Nuran Niyazaliev, ambassador extraordinary and plenipotentiary, Kyrgyz Republic told Gulf Times.
“Since our independence, Kyrgyzstan has very close and cordial relations with Qatar. The President of Kyrgyzstan visited Qatar twice in the past two years. Several delegations from our country have visited Qatar and Qatari delegations also had been to Kyrgyzstan. Now, we look forward to His Highness the Amir, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani to make an official visit of Kyrgyzstan,” explained Niyazaliev.
“We are an agricultural country and we have the potential to export a lot of agricultural products to Qatar. Many Qatari companies found our products attractive but we have some problems in logistics as we are a land-locked country without access to any seaport. Now we are working on a railroad to connect Central Asia to the Arabian Peninsula. It will go from Kyrgyzstan to Bander Abbas port. This will help us to transport our products from Bander Abbas to Hamad port in Qatar,” continued the envoy.
“We have also requested Qatar Airways for direct air connection and we are hopeful that the airline will start operating direct flights from Doha to Kyrgyzstan soon. We had several talks with Qatar Airways. They have informed us that they are studying the feasibility of the operations and will take a decision soon. Tourism is one of the main revenues of Kyrgyzstan and a direct flight will help both the countries in this regard,” said the ambassador.
According to the official, as many as 20 agreements have been signed between both the countries so far in different areas. “We are still working on the draft agreement on the employment of Kyrgyz people in Qatar. There are a lot of professional people in our country, especially in the field of medical and service industries. Once the agreement is finalised, Qatar will be able to recruit many Kyrgyz professionals in different areas," maintained the Kyrgyz envoy.
He also said that some organisations from Qatar will be taking part in the World Nomad Games that will be taking place in Kyrgyzstan from tomorrow. About 80 countries are taking part in the games.
