«Of course, the interests of each country are expressed through the development of certain measures. If one country imposes sanctions, another introduces countermeasures. In this turbulent world, it is important to maintain a neutral position, which the President of the Kyrgyz Republic declared from the very beginning: in this situation, he maintains a neutral position because the issue itself is very complex.

What does the sanctions policy entail? The key is to prevent circumvention of those decisions on arms supplies, to prevent escalation of conflicts. And it’s very difficult to monitor entrepreneurs in this area. Why? Because there are both conscientious and unscrupulous entrepreneurs. Therefore, we are conducting a dialogue in this area.

Of course, we are a sovereign, independent state. We can choose not to comply with these requirements, but then you won’t be integrated into international networks—the financial resources and technologies possessed by the West. It is their right to impose restrictions. Although we believe this is unjustified. This undoubtedly hinders globalization processes—not only trade but also investment processes. Nevertheless, the harsh reality remains, so we are developing joint measures that do not infringe on the interests of our country and the obligations assumed under international agreements,» Daniyar Amangeldiev said.

He noted that a compromise can always be found through dialogue.

«Starting in 2022, this issue has been constantly on our agenda. It is a very sensitive matter. We monitor both the financial sector and the activities of our entrepreneurs. In particular, a specific package of measures has been adopted that will allow the Cabinet of Ministers to take decisive action if certain companies fail to comply with requirements and run counter to our national interests.

As you can see, we have traditional trade. We don’t trade weapons or anything like that. We have historically established supply routes for goods, and we have a list of goods. We always monitor trends based on foreign economic activity. When we conduct analysis, we see which items are declining and which are increasing. And overall, we see in the structure of our foreign trade that the structure itself hasn’t changed. We have traditionally traded certain goods, and our partners see this.

We are completely open; we haven’t hidden any statistics. We pursue a completely transparent policy. We upload all data to UN Comtrade database. Therefore, our partners also see that we are not hiding anything. But there are certain aspects that sometimes need to be adjusted and fine-tuned. That’s what we are working on,» the Deputy Cabinet Chairman added.

He noted that there is currently no pressure from Western partners.

«The only thing we were perplexed by was the restriction of access to technology and equipment supplies by the European Union. We stated this. And, in principle, we have the support of virtually all EU countries. As of today, not a single EU member state has any direct complaints against our country, claiming that we are evading sanctions or causing any harm to any other country. There are certain issues that arise from analysis and are brought before the European Parliament for consideration. These involve specific departments. But we have both positive and negative interactions with them. Things happen,» Daniyar Amangeldiev concluded.