Kyrgyzstan is in talks with its giant neighbour China about relocating dozens of Chinese plants and factories to the Central Asian nation, foreign minister Erlan Abdyldayev said on Sunday. China is a major supplier of consumer and industrial goods to the ex-Soviet Central Asia and an importer of local commodities such oil, gas and metals.
Now, Kyrgyzstan, whose economy has been hit hard by the recession in Russia and a slump in gold output, wants to have some of those goods produced on its territory and by its own workers, Abdyldayev said.
"In the nearest future, we will hand over to the Chinese side the projects for 40 companies that we plan to implement as part of a project to move excess production lines from China to Kyrgyzstan," he told reporters after meeting his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi in Bishkek.
"This must help the new industrialisation of Kyrgyzstan."
Abdyldayev declined to provide any financial details or give examples of planned projects. Kyrgyzstan's oil-rich neighbour Kazakhstan announced similar plans to attract Chinese businesses in 2014.
Abdyldayev said Bishkek was also in talks with Beijing about completing a set of hydroelectric power plants in Kyrgyzstan which Russia has withdrawn from due to financial problems.