Azerbaijan, Baku, July 16 / Trend E. Kosolapova/
US Transit Centre at Kyrgyz city of Manas will be closed in July 2014, Kyrgyz Deputy Foreign Minister Erines Otorbaev told KyrTAG on Tuesday.
"Transit Centre at Manas will be closed on July 11, 2014. We informed US working group on this decision at the recent meeting. The conversation was conducted in line with Kyrgyzstan's well-known position on the issue," he said.
Otorbaev also said that the US must withdraw its military facilities, personnel and equipment prior the deadline and no US military presence must be left in Manas after July 11.
Earlier Kyrgyz Parliament denounced the agreement on deployment of the Transit Centre at Manas, and this bill was signed by Kyrgyz President.
The US air base, renamed later as the transit centre, was established at the Manas international airport in Bishkek in December, 2001. The Transit Centre has approximately 1,200 U.S. military and Department of Defence contractor personnel performing day-to-day operations at the premier air mobility hub supporting military operations in Afghanistan. The agreement on the deployment of the U.S. air base in Kyrgyzstan is valid until 2014.
The transit centre pays about $150 million per year to Kyrgyz budget including $60 million rent.