"We have found US$5 million and will ask Uzbekistan to resume talks on (gas) supplies," the director-general of the Kyrgyzgaz [Kyrgyz gas] open joint-stock company, Salamat Aytikeyev, said at a news conference.

More than two weeks ago, Uzbekistan cut off gas supplies to the south of Kyrgyzstan and decreased gas supplies by 30% to the north of Kyrgyzstan over the debt.

Aytikeyev added that the number of gas users in Kyrgyzstan had decreased since the beginning of this year and that "actually only domestic customers are using gas today".

He said this situation was also because of an increase in gas prices. Kyrgyzstan buys Uzbek gas at US$240 per 1,000 cubic meters this year, and in connection with this, many industrial customers switched to other fuels.

"In talks last year, we agreed on supplies of 650 million cubic meters of gas from Uzbekistan, but according to preliminary estimates, Kyrgyzstan will use only 300 million cubic meters," the chairman of the Kyrgyzgaz added.

Concerning the price of Uzbek gas for Kyrgyzstan next year, Aytikeyev said that "discussion of this issue will begin in November".