Kyrgyzstan is negotiating with Uzbekistan and China to begin supplying them with the Kyrgyzstan's vast coal reserves.

Narynbek Satybaldyev, the director general of Kyrgyz Komur state enterprise, told journalists that the discussions began in November during Prime Minister Jantoro Satybaldiyev's visit to the Uzbekistan capital of Tashkent.

The Kyrgyz side proposed a selling price of $40 per thousand-ton.

"We hold negotiations in this direction. There are also talks with China on the same issue, but so far only at the initial stage," Satybaldyev said.

The Kyrgyz Republic's coal reserves have been estimated at approximately 27 billion tons, of which the majority remains entirely unexploited. Approximately 3 billion tons of this amount is judged to be of highest quality.

The development of the coal deposits would be a significant boost to the Kyrgyzstan economy.