Chinese Investors to Build New Industrial Plants and Residential Compound in Kyrgyzstan’s Naryn

On October 25, Chinese investors launched the construction of four extensive production facilities in Kyrgyzstan's Naryn region: a car assembly plant, an LED lamp manufacturing plant, a toilet paper and napkin plant, and an agricultural drone manufacturing plant. At a capsule-laying ceremony, Akylbek Japarov, Chairman of the Cabinet of Ministers of Kyrgyzstan, emphasized that this event proves that Kyrgyzstan has reached “a new, higher level of relations” with its neighbor. Chinese partners will invest $130 million in the Naryn-Shumkar car assembly plant, which will manufacture more than 20,000 cars annually and create 1,000 jobs. $10 million will be invested in the LED lamp plant, which will produce 30 million lamps per year and create about 200 jobs. Another $10 million will be invested in the toilet paper and napkin plant, which will produce 6,000 tons of paper annually and create more than 100 jobs. On the same day, Japarov attended a ceremony to begin the construction of a new residential compound, Tien Shan City, in the town of Naryn. The residential compound will consist of six 10-storey apartment blocks. The developer, a construction company from the Chinese city of Kashgar, plans to complete high-quality modern housing construction within a year. The company will also build an administration house for all government services for the local population.

Kyrgyz President Applauds Son’s Golf Project Despite Questions

Kyrgyzstan is building the biggest golf course in Central Asia, President Sadyr Japarov says. The man building the golf course? Japarov’s son, Rustam. Japarov has often said that his friends and family won’t get involved in politics and government, though some media reports and critics say that he hasn’t kept his word in a country where corruption has been a longstanding concern. In an interview this week with the state-run Kabar news agency, the president stuck to his position that family members won’t get mixed up in state affairs. “I always tell them not to do business with the state. We must learn from the past,” said Japarov, who has previously said that critical media coverage of his government amounted to slander and trafficking in rumors. “Rustam is busy attracting investors. He is building a golf course in Issyk-Kul. God willing, we plan to open it next year,” said Japarov, who didn’t offer details about the project other than that “it will be the largest golf course in Central Asia.” The president also praised his son for a project that he started last year to build a football field with lighting in every village in the country. The area around Lake Issyk-Kul, where the golf course is being built, is one of Kyrgyzstan’s main tourist sites. Its attractions include beaches, hiking and ancient petroglyphs showing deer, leopards and hunting scenes. There are restaurants, wellness centers and conference facilities catering to international delegations. Telegram founder Pavel Durov was spotted there earlier this year. Japarov’s son, Rustam, drew attention in 2022 when a photo circulating on social media appeared to show him with leaders at a meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, a regional security group, in Samarkand, Uzbekistan. At the time, the 24.kg news service questioned why he was there since he didn’t hold any government position and wasn’t part of the official Kyrgyz delegation. In June, President Japarov apologized when news emerged that the fiancé of his niece had proposed marriage after the pair traveled on a rented government helicopter to the mountains near Bishkek. The scandal got worse when the fiancé, Aftandil Sabyrbekov, was arrested on drug charges. In the Kabar interview that was published on Wednesday, Japarov also disputed any suggestion that the involvement of Taimuras Tashiev, son of a high-ranking government official, in a road project in the town of Özgön was inappropriate. Tashiev’s father is Kamchybek Tashiev, chairman of the State Committee for National Security. “Why not say thanks to Taimuras,” said the president, who regularly gives interviews to state-run Kabar while some more critical media have faced state prosecutions. “Would Taimuras introduce the company he founded if it would harm the state?”