British Ambassador about Kumtor: Investors cannot work in unpredictability

British Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to Kyrgyzstan Charles Garrett visited the Kumtor mine. He posted about it on his Instagram.

His colleagues from Azerbaijan and India also visited the mine together with him.

Dinara Kutmanova, Chairwoman of the State Committee for Ecology and Climate, noted that Kumtor enterprise is budget-forming and employs more than 3,500 citizens, and therefore work at the field continues in the same way as before and cannot be stopped immediately.

«I am not an ecologist or an expert in the mining industry, and therefore I cannot assess what I saw. But I have more questions than answers about the entire activity of the field. As the specialists at Kumtor noted, no developments and actions could and cannot be undertaken without the approval of the government. Also, the State Commission annually visits the mine to approve the discharge of water after treatment. Therefore, it is hard to talk about getting enough information without reading all the agreements,» Charles Garrett wrote.

The diplomat said that the ambassadors saw the glaciers, including those in a deplorable state. At the same time, he pointed out: it is important to understand that glaciers are also affected by the climate change.

«After reading the comments of the government, there is still a strange aftertaste. Parliament raised the issue of environmental violations in 2012, why then no decisive actions were taken to prevent these problems? The fact remains. Investments and investors cannot work in the conditions of unpredictability and volatility, as well as making hasty decisions,» Charles Garrett wrote.