In January of this year, at the site of Al-Farabi Kazakh National University, a meeting of the tourist community, initiated by the public association Kaz Alpin Club, was held with a member of the Mazhilis of Parliament, Chairman of the Committee on International Affairs, Defense and Security Kuspan Aigul. The main topic of discussion was the issue of resuming tourist routes from Almaty to Lake Issyk-Kul in Kyrgyzstan. A certain groundwork for this was made in 2022, when 2 groups of representatives from Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan, as part of a pilot project, successfully completed the transition along routes from the Big Almaty Lake and in the Kolsai Lakes area. Among the participants in the transition were representatives of the Department of Recreational Geography and Tourism of Al-Farabi Kazakh National University.

At the meeting, the problems, and prospects for resuming pedestrian crossings to Issyk-Kul, as well as the possibilities for sustainable development of active types of tourism in mountainous areas were discussed.

This week, a working meeting was held in the Mazhilis of Parliament, chaired by Aigul Kuspan, with the participation of relevant government bodies to speed up the implementation of the project.

The results of the meeting were briefly summed up on his Facebook page by the Chairman of the Board of Kaz Alpin Club, Erlan Smailov.

In particular, it was noted that the Mazhilis and all relevant government bodies of the Republic of Kazakhstan support cross-border routes. They prepared and agreed upon the text of an intergovernmental Agreement with the Kyrgyz Republic, which at the end of December was sent through diplomatic channels to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Kyrgyz Republic.

At a meeting of the foreign ministers of our countries on January 29-30, an agreement was reached to speed up the signing of the document. A joint meeting is planned with representatives of the Jogorku Kenesh and the Central Civil Society of Kyrgyzstan. There is hope that the Kyrgyz government authorities will speed up the work on agreeing and signing the Agreement, especially since representatives of the Kyrgyz tourism industry also support the idea of resuming cross-border routes.

The route through the Ozernyi (3520 m) and Ak-Su Northern (4050 m) passes has a length of 80 km, is designed for 4-5 days, and requires mountain walking skills.

The route through the Sary-Bulak pass (3274 m), about 35 km long, is designed for 2-3 days, accessible to any healthy person.

It is planned that only organized tourist groups, formed by tour operators and accompanied by specially trained guides, will be allowed on the routes. The tour operator will assemble a group in advance and send a list of tourists’ data to the border service for verification. When crossing the border in the mountains, tourists on the list will be checked by mobile border groups using special equipment and will receive a mark about crossing the state border.

E.V. Smailov noted the coordinated and constructive work of the Ministry of Tourism and Sports of the Republic of Kazakhstan, the Border Service of the National Security Committee of the Republic of Kazakhstan, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources, the active participation of the Atameken NPP and expressed special gratitude to Aigul Kuspan for the systematic support of the project by the deputy corps Mazhilis of Parliament.

If the issue of crossing the border by hiking tourist groups is resolved, there will be a real prospect of resuming summer field practices for our university students in the form of a training trip from Almaty to the Al-Farabi Kazakh National University Sports and Fitness Camp on the coast of Lake Issyk-Kul.