Round table summary

On June 4, 2007 a round table discussion on the state and prospects of the Kyrgyz-American relations was held at the Institute for Public Policy. This discussion became a continuation of a series of round table discussions held by the Institute on the issues of bilateral relations of Kyrgyzstan with foreign partners. The previous round table discussions were devoted to the Kyrgyz-Chinese and Kyrgyz-Russian relations.

According to the general assessment of experts, relations between Kyrgyzstan and the United States starting from 2003-2004 have been developing along a steady descending line. The key moments were the adoption of the Declaration of the 2005 Summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization in Astana, mutual expulsion of diplomats, killing of a Kyrgyz citizen at the Manas anti-terrorist airbase, etc.

As for the substantive part then according to experts, bilateral relations are at a very low level since the essence of bilateral relations for both sides has boiled down to the Manas anti-terrorist airbase.

The experts noted several reasons for unstable development of bilateral relations.

First of all, Kyrgyzstan reacts too sensitively and tensely to the dynamics of relations between the United States, Russia and China, which keeps from sustaining relations with all of these states on a stable and similar level, forcing to bow in one or another direction.

Secondly, there are still no experts on American politics in Kyrgyzstan and one could hardly observe any serious carriers of Western values among the public. This complicates understanding of the West in general and the United States in particular by the Kyrgyz leadership and the majority of Kyrgyzstanis.

According to experts, these values are much stronger in Russia. “The modernization project of Vladimir Putin is based more on Western values than on anything else,” noted experts.

Thirdly, the politics of the United States towards Kyrgyzstan is burdened with several factors. The approach of the United States to Kyrgyzstan is inseparably tied to complex relations of the United States with the Islamic world, CIS states, the problem of Afghanistan, etc.
Also according to experts, “the factor of watchfulness towards Central Asia on the part of the U.S. leadership, based on the experience of relations with Uzbekistan, which drastically changed its foreign policy directions several times during the last few years, is very important.”

According to participants of the round table discussion, to improve relations with the United States Kyrgyzstan has to resolve the main issue, which is determining its own interests.

According to experts, the trend of following the dynamics of relations between its big partners is unjustified and fraught with negative consequences for Kyrgyzstan.

“The United States, Russia and China will always have disagreements and conflicts, but in the end they will always come to agreement. But the main issue, topical for Kyrgyzstan is: at what cost and at whose expense will they come to agreement,” noted experts. According to them, one should remember that presidential elections are due in both Russia and the United States, and foreign policy will be heavily used in domestic politics. In this case Kyrgyzstan should not fall into the millstone of American and Russian elections,” noted participants of the round table discussion.

Besides the topical issue of ensuring security, the national interest of Kyrgyzstan is also in adjusting values of modernization, political, economic, etc. The presently practiced transfer of values has a “colonial” feature, which lies in the scheme of “free assistance in exchange for democracy.” According to experts, transfer of technologies would be much more effective. Launching an American chain business or a bank would be much more effective than a number of agencies that promote democracy,” noted one of the participants of the round table discussion.

According to participants of the round table discussion, a great deal depends on personal leadership in foreign policy. In the immediate future the top leadership of the country has to make an unambiguous statement on the military base in order to close this issue and at the same time to relieve tensions in bilateral relations related to the airbase. In conclusion experts noted that organization of the visit of the Kyrgyz President to the United States could become a major step in raising bilateral relations to a qualitatively new level.