BISHKEK (Central Asia Online) – An investment forum in Bishkek February 4-5 sought to attract EU investors to opportunities in Kyrgyz business. Aruu El Invest, a Bishkek investment firm, sponsored the Silk Road Forum 2015, the first Kyrgyz symposium ever to promote the idea of reviving projects on the route of the Silk Road.

Rustam Junushaliyev, chairman of the Silk Road Forum in Bishkek (right), welcomes guest Kalinka Kolacheva of Bulgaria in February 5. Bishkek hosted a forum to promote projects along the route of the Silk Road.
(Credit: Asker Sultanov)

The sponsors seek to attract investments to enable well-rounded economic development and to prepare our citizens for competition in the international arena. During the forum, Kyrgyz businesspeople presented 27 proposals to the visiting EU investors, who selected eight for implementation. The eight projects selected by European investors from The Netherlands, Italy, Bulgaria and France include proposals to build a number of mini-hydro-power stations, establish a meat-packing plant in Naryn Province, use drip irrigation to grow beans in Talas Province, supply power to Naryn and Issyk-Kul provinces as part of the Vostok-Elektro Project, start up new dairy production, export farm produce and establish a litter-recycling plant in Chui Province.

The Kyrgyz officials expect the eight projects to be launched as early as this year. Their aggregate value adds up to $375 mln (22.9 bln KGS).

The Italian National Agency for New Technologies, Energy and Sustainable Economic Development (ENEA) displayed an interest in helping build a litter-recycling facility in Chui Province worth €22 mln (1.5 bln KGS), and the two sides are negotiating how to equip the planned plant, Mambetov said. This is a strictly private project with zero government participation, in which Kyrgyzstan is represented by Aruu El Invest. The plant would recycle 40,000 tonnes of waste a year.