Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan ready to resolve border dispute

Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan said they are ready to resolve their border dispute, the press service of the State Border Service of Kyrgyzstan said Tuesday.

Border officials of the two countries expressed willingness to resolve the situation in a phone conversation on Monday, the press service said.

Earlier on Monday, seven Uzbek border guards arrived by helicopter at the small disputed mountain known as Unkur-Too on the Kyrgyz-Uzbek border.

The Uzbek side, during a meeting between border officials of the two countries, had demanded the Kyrgyz side hand over a policeman arrested on Kyrgyzstan's territory on accusation of trespassing.

It had also demanded the removal of Kyrgyz police checkpoints from around the Ortho-Tokoy reservoir which is located on the Kyrgyz territory but has been used by Uzbekistan since the Soviet era.

According to the Kyrgyz border service, Kyrgyzstan has fined the policeman and handed him over to Uzbekistan.

"Currently, police officers of Uzbekistan remain on the disputed area on Unkur-Too mountain," the border service said.

Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan share a border of 1,378 km, 371 km of which are disputed.

Source : XINHUA