Kyrgyz Security Chief Says Border Issues With Uzbekistan 'Fully Resolved'

BISHKEK — Kyrgyzstan says long-standing border issues with Uzbekistan have been “100 percent fully resolved.”

Kamchybek Tashiev, the head of Kyrgyzstan’s State Committee for National Security, told RFE/RL on March 26 that talks with a group of Uzbek officials led by Prime Minister Abdulla Aripov had ended with the signing of a protocol on the final delimitation and demarcation of the Kyrgyz-Uzbek border.

Tashiev, who led the Kyrgyz delegation at the talks in Tashkent on March 24-25, said that no disputed segments of the border will remain after the protocol’s implementation.

The border between the two Central Asian neighbors has been a major bone of contention in bilateral ties since 1991, when they gained independence from the Soviet Union.

Over the past decades there have been numerous incidents along the border, including gunfire.

The situation began to improve following the 2016 death of Uzbekistan’s long-ruling authoritarian president, Islam Karimov.

His successor, Shavkat Mirziyoev, has said that improving ties with Uzbekistan’s neighbors is a major priority of his foreign policy.