Russian-Kyrgyz joint venture to supply fuel for U.S. base
15:41 10/02/2011
BISHKEK, February 10 (RIA Novosti) - A Russian-Kyrgyz joint venture must start supplying the Pentagon's transit center in Bishkek with aviation fuel in March, Kyrgyz First Deputy Prime Minister Omurbek Babanov said Thursday.
The joint venture, which involves Russian energy giant Gazprom, is being set up under a proposal by Kyrgyz President Roza Otunbayeva. The United States has welcomed the proposal.
"We should be able to finish setting up a joint venture in February, and the company should start fuel deliveries in March," Babanov said after a meting of a Russian-Kyrgyz intergovernmental commission on trade, technological and humanitarian cooperation.
Kyrgyzstan and the United States signed on Tuesday a $630-million contract on fuel supply to the U.S. transit center at Manas airport, which is a crucial supply hub for the U.S.-led war against Taliban in Afghanistan.
Under the deal, Kyrgyzstan will supply up to 50 percent of the U.S. requirements.
The Manas base is estimated to need 360,000 tons of jet fuel annually.
The U.S. military base on the territory of Bishkek's Manas Airport was opened in 2001 as a part of U.S.-led Operation Enduring Freedom in nearby Afghanistan.
In early 2009, the Kyrgyz government announced that all U.S. troops would have to leave the country, but later agreed to a deal with the Pentagon on improved terms under which the facility was turned into a transit center.
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