Aripov clarified for the first time how Kampirabad was transferred to Uzbekistan

Today 14 November, at the next meeting of the Legislative Chamber of the Oliy Majlis of the Republic of Uzbekistan, the latest developments on the Uzbekistan-Kyrgyz border, in particular, Prime Minister Abdulla Aripov and the National Security Service of Kyrgyzstan discussed the issue of the contract signed by the chairman of the committee, Kamchibek Tashiyev.  

At the meeting, deputies discussed "On the ratification of the Agreement between the Republic of Uzbekistan and the Kyrgyz Republic on separate sections of the Uzbek-Kyrgyz State border (Bishkek, November 3, 2022)" and "O' Draft laws on the ratification of the Agreement on the joint management of water resources of the Andijan (Kampirabad) reservoir between the government of the Republic of Uzbekistan and the Cabinet of Ministers of the Kyrgyz Republic (Bishkek, November 3, 2022)" were considered.

At the meeting, the Prime Minister of the Republic of Uzbekistan, Abdulla Aripov, explained the agreement.  He began by saying that the process of working on borders is not easy.

"When the time comes, it should be said that it is not easy to negotiate with neighboring countries on the border issue.  "We have been walking step by step along the border with long arguments and difficult roads, holding several meetings of intergovernmental commissions, studying archival documents, and then proposals are being prepared," says Aripov.

According to him, based on President Shavkat Mirziyoyev's initiative to strengthen mutually friendly relations with the neighboring Kyrgyz Republic, the negotiation process of 35 sections - a total of 302 km - has reached the final stage.

"We spent more than 5 years trying to reach this agreement.  The agreement approved by the bill presented to you today was not easily reached.  Several important issues of strategic importance for our republic are being resolved in the signed agreement," said the Chairman of the government.

He noted that the Andijan (Kampirabad) reservoir in the territory of the Kyrgyz Republic is a very important strategic object for the republic's agriculture.

"Currently, more than 175,000 hectares of our valley regions and 25 hectares of agricultural land in the Kyrgyz Republic are irrigated through this reservoir.  The capacity of the reservoir is 1 billion 576 million cubic meters.  The occupied area is 4957 hectares.  Instead of the area occupied by this water reservoir, we propose to allocate 1019 hectares of pasture land from the Poshakhor section of the Korgontepa district of the Andijan region.  During the former Union, 4,127 hectares of land were given to Uzbekistan as compensation for the reservoir from the territory of the USSR," said the Prime Minister.

According to him, the territory occupied by the reservoir and another 19.5 hectares of land for the maintenance of the dam are being transferred from the territory of Kyrgyzstan to the territory of Uzbekistan.

"In turn, to maintain friendly relations with the neighbors, permission is being given for the use of the water reservoir by the citizens of Kyrgyzstan for certain purposes.
At this point, we should mention one issue: we agreed on the issue of lowering the reservoir lens from 906 meters to 900 meters.  The Kyrgyz side proposed lowering it even more, but it remained at the 900 meters.  Then a water reservoir with a water capacity of 1 billion 578 million cubic meters will be established," says Aripov.