Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan Begin Border Village Transfer

Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.uz) — Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan have initiated organizational and technical measures for the official transfer of the villages of Chongara and Tash-Dobo, which were previously part of the Ferghana Region of Uzbekistan, news agency 24.kg reported, citing the Kyrgyz president's representation in the Batken region.

The work is being carried out within the framework of agreements on the demarcation of the Uzbek-Kyrgyz state border and the exchange of border land plots.

On 3 August, a joint working group began registering residents of the two settlements. The Uzbek delegation is led by Bekhzod Sayfullayev, Deputy Head of the Department of Migration and Personalization at the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Uzbekistan, while the Kyrgyz delegation is led by Baktybek Toksonbayev, First Deputy Representative of the President of Kyrgyzstan in the Batken region.

According to preliminary data, the villages of Chongara and Tash-Dobo, populated predominantly by ethnic Kyrgyz, have about 2,500 residents. Following the completion of registration, procedures will begin to grant them Kyrgyz citizenship.

At the end of June, Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan completed an exchange of border territories. Under the agreements reached, the villages of Chongara and Tash-Dobo, previously belonging to Uzbekistan's Ferghana Region, passed to the jurisdiction of Kyrgyzstan. In return, the Kyrgyz side transferred equal-sized land plots in the border zone to Uzbekistan.

At the end of July, during the state visit of President of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev to Kyrgyzstan, President Sadyr Japarov stated that the parties intend to sign documents to finalise border issues. According to him, there are also plans to increase the number of checkpoints on the Uzbek-Kyrgyz border from 15 to 30.