Welcome to the Kyrgyz Republic:
General information :
A country of striking beauty and towering peaks, Kyrgyzstan became independent with the collapse of the Soviet Russia in 1991.
Kyrgyzstan is a mountaineous country located on north-east of Central Asia in the Tian Shan and Pamir mountain range,Kyrgyzstan borders Kazakhstan on the north and northwest, Uzbekistan in the southwest, Tajikistan in the south,and China in the southeast.
Kyrgyzstan proclaimed its independence from the Soviet Union on Aug. 31, 1991.
On Dec.21,1991,Kyrgyzstan joined the Commonwealth of Independent States.The country joined the UN and the IMF in 1992 and adopted a shock-therapy economic program
.Kyrgyzstan is the continental mountain country with a large variety of landscapes The territory of Kyrgyzstan is 199.9 thousand sq. km, from which 5.5% of the area is engaged by woods, 4.4% by water, 53.5% by agricultural.T
here are 1923 lakes in Kyrgyzstan, the common area of a water surface of which is 6836 sq km.”Issyk-Kul Lake, the second in world on depth high-mountain lake with area of a water surface 6236 sq km; Height of territory of Kyrgyzstan varies from 401 up to 7439 m above a sea level. About 94% of its territory is on a height of more than 1000 m above sea level, from which 40 % is higher than 3000 m above a sea level ,and has significant potential for development of tourism.
The Kyrgyz, a Turkic-speaking pastoral people, Kyrgyz 64.9%, Uzbek 13.8%,Russian 12.5%, Dungan 1.1%, Ukrainian 1%, Uygur 1%, other 5.7%,Kyrgyz and Russian are both official languages.Literacy rate: 99% (2006 est.)
As a result of its varied and turbulent history, the country throughout the centuries became a real melting pot of nationalities: The ethnic group of the Kyrgyz makes up only a bit more than 50% of the population. The two other important ethnic groups are Russians and Uzbeks, both with about 15 % of the population. The Russians came into the region during the 19 th century, and, is heavily influenced by the Russian way of life and Soviet architecture. The Uzbek people lives to its biggest part in the south of the country, close to the border to Uzbekistan . Other people out of those more than 80 nationalities and ethnic groups living in Kyrgyzstan are European ones like Germans or Ukrains, muslim nations like Dungans and Uighurs, as well as Tatars.
Although there are so many different people living in the region, whose lifestyle and traditions sometimes differ a lot, they all have one thing in common: The typical Central Asian hospitality, that can in no way be compared with the way guests are greeted in the western world.Never you will come across a yurt without being invited for a cup of the national drink and a snack,never you will be invited into the house of locals without facing a table, completely full of delicacies already before the main dish is served.Nontheless, gastronomy is only one way where hospitality is shown:
The warmth and openness of the people can be felt already when you first get acquainted, and at the second meeting you’re very often already considered as a family member!
Kyrgyzstan has deposits of antimony, gold, molybdenum, tin, coal, tungsten, mercury, uranium, petroleum, and natural gas.Industries include food processing, sugar refining,nonferrous metallurgy, and the manufacture of agricultural machinery, textiles, building materials, appliances, furniture, and electric motors.
The leading exports are cotton,wool, meat, tobacco, metals (particularly gold, mercury, uranium, and steel), hydropower, and machinery; chief imports are grain, lumber, industrial products, ferrous metals,and fuel.Major trading partners: UAE, Russia,China,Kazakhstan,Switzerland,Turkey.
In 1998,Kyrgyzstan became the first former Soviet Russian Republic to join the World Trade Organization