Kyrgyz parliament ratifies border deal with Uzbekistan

By Burc Eruygur

ISTANBUL (AA) – Kyrgyzstan’s parliament on Thursday ratified an agreement on the demarcation of certain sections of the country’s border with neighboring Uzbekistan.

The session of the parliament, which discussed the agreement with the attendance of Kyrgyzstan’s President Sadyr Japarov, lasted for five hours, the Kyrgyz AKI Press news agency said.

The parliament also discussed and ratified an agreement signed on Nov. 3 with Uzbekistan on the joint management of water resources of the Kempir-Abad (Andijan) reservoir.

On Sept. 26, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan had signed a joint protocol on the demarcation of their border.

According to a statement by the Kyrgyzstan government, the protocol envisaged the initiation of the procedure for reaching an agreement on a new draft for certain sections of the Kyrgyz-Uzbek state border.

In March 2021, the two countries agreed on a treaty to end the long-running dispute over their border that stretches a total of 1,379 kilometers (857 miles) but is not clearly demarcated.