Kyrgyzstan to spend 30m KGS celebrating independence

BISHKEK – A Kyrgyz government commission that was formed to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the country’s independence (August 31) discussed its plans August 9.

The chairman is Deputy Prime Minister Ibragim Zhunusov. The primary events will take place in Bishkek and Talas, site of Manas’s mausoleum, he said, adding the government had budgeted 30m KGS (US $680,000) to celebrate independence.

Plans call for 40 horsemen from Kyrgyzstan’s seven oblasts to ride from Talas to Bishkek in honour of Manas’s 40-man force, he said. Officials plan to unveil a monument to Manas in Bishkek August 31.