ABSTRACT
Kyrgyzstan is the most mountainous and isolated of the Central Asian FSU republics. It has boundaries with Kazakstan, China, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. During the Soviet period, it was integrated economically and socially into the region and ethnic problems were suppressed. With the demise of the Soviet Union, ethnic problems appeared in the form of violent clashes between the Kyrgyz and Uzbeks in which at least 300 people are reported to have been killed. The Central Asian Economic Union (CAEU) has already instituted plans for an improved communications network, including pipelines, and has attracted the interest of Western and AsiaPacific investors. While the civil war in Tajikistan is probably the overriding problem, there are potential difficulties with the Uighur population near the Chinese border, while the Fergana Valley presents a complex of actual and potential geopolitical issues. Kazakstan and Uzbekistan have both recognised their existing borders with Kyrgyzstan.
