Resolution on Manas Air Force base has been made - Kyrgyz president

BISHKEK. March 5. KAZINFORM. A resolution on the withdrawal of the US Air Force base in Manas airport in Bishkek has been made; in August, 2009 the last US serviceman is to leave the Kyrgyz land, the press service of the Kyrgyz president told Tass Thursday, quoting Kyrgyz President Kurmanbek Bakiyev as saying.

Kyrgyzstan as a member of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) will do everything possible for the normalization of the situation in Afghanistan, the Kyrgyz president said. Like other CSTO countries Kyrgyzstan is prepared to offer its territory for the transportation of civilian cargoes to Afghanistan, Bakiyev said. In respect to the situation in Afghanistan, Bakiyev said that "a way to stability is not in a military sphere". Kyrgyzstan has a number of concrete proposals grouped under a symbolic name "Bishkek initiative? that envisages that Kyrgyzstan volunteers to be a venue of an international conference on problems of security and stability in the Central Asian region, Bakiyev said. It is also possible to establish an international analytical center that should make a profound analysis of the situation in the region and make recommendations for settlement, Bakiyev said. On February 19 the Kyrgyz parliament almost unanimously voted for the withdrawal of the US servicemen and hardware from Manas. On the following day the Kyrgyz president signed the resolution into law, and Washington was officially notified about that. The US servicemen shall abandon the territory of Kyrgyzstan until August 20, 2009; Kazinform quotes Itar-Tass. Apart from the United States, in December, 2001 Kyrgyzstan also authorized the presence of military groups from Australia, Denmark, Norway, New Zealand, Poland, Turkey, the Netherlands, Italy, Spain, France and South Korea at the Bishkek airport. On Thursday, a bill proposed by the Kyrgyz government on the denunciation of the agreement with the rest of the member-countries - parties to the international anti- terrorist coalition, has been discussed at the level of profile committees and blocs of the Kyrgyz parliament. If the bill is approved it will be submitted to the entire parliament for discussion on Friday, the Supreme Council of Kyrgyzstan told Tass.