Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) -- President of Kyrgyzstan Sadyr Japarov has come up with an initiative, the essence of which is for his country to send money for the construction of a hydroelectric power station, which are provided for repayment of external debt.

Japarov believes that countries and financial institutions, to which Kyrgyzstan is a debtor, could take part in the construction of energy facilities and hydroelectric power stations in the country.

He noted that he had already instructed to actively work on the issue of exchanging the country’s external debt for "green" initiatives. “Together we implement green projects in Kyrgyzstan, in exchange we are written off external debts. We all want our children to live in a rich country with good ecology. We want to be a truly energy independent country that rationally uses its potential,” the President explained his initiative on his social media page.

At the same time, Japarov assured that the country would fully fulfill its obligations to pay off its external debt. “We are only raising the initiative to develop a green economy and jointly contribute to improving the environmental situation in the world. It would be good if the funds provided for the repayment of external debt would be directed to support "green" initiatives. We do not say that these projects are financed only by donors and partners. We are also ready to invest,” he said.

According to Japarov, the problem of smog has become one of the most urgent, and its solution requires an integrated approach. The President recalled that Kyrgyzstan is a country rich in water resources. “It is sad that, being in the upper reaches of water resources, we have not been able to build new hydropower plants over the years of independence and are forced to import electricity in winter. For the past 30 years, we have been using coal, fuel oil, the power of previously built hydroelectric power stations. Now only 10% of our hydropower potential is being used,” the president said.

He recalled that, on his instructions, 50 small and medium-sized hydroelectric power plants have been actively built over the past two years, and the authorities are ready to provide preferences to investors. The largest construction site, the Kambar-Ata HPP-1, has been launched. Japarov believes that if more attention had been paid to this before, then the issue of smog would not be so acute, in winter it would be possible to use electricity instead of coal.

The external debt of Kyrgyzstan today is US$4.2 billion. The President is confident that the country will find support from donor countries and partners on these initiatives.