Key industry: Software development
Bishkek, formerly Pishpek and Frunze, is the capital and largest city of the Kyrgyz Republic. Bishkek is also the administrative centre of the Chuy Region. The province surrounds the city, although the city itself is not part of the province, but rather a province-level unit of the country. Bishkek is situated at an altitude of about 800 meters (2,600 ft), just off the northern fringe of the Kyrgyz Ala-Too range, an extension of the Tian Shan mountain range. These mountains rise to a height of 4,855 meters (15,928 ft) and provide a backdrop to the city. North of the city, a fertile and gently undulating steppe extends far north into neighboring Kazakhstan. The Chui River drains most of the area. Bishkek is connected to the Turkestan-Siberia Railway by a spur line.
Besides the city proper, one urban-type settlement and one village are administered by the city: Chong-Aryk and Orto-Say. The city is divided into 4 districts: Birinchi May, Lenin, Oktyabr and Sverdlov. Chong-Aryk and Orto-Say are part of Lenin District.:
| 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| total | 36597.5 | 39265.8 | 42291.9 |
| mining | 112.0 | 79.1 | 22.8 |
| manufacturing industries | 24137.3 | 25657.7 | 28612.1 |
| providing electricity, gas, steam and air conditioning | 11381.3 | 11869.6 | 12083.6 |
| water supply, cleaning, waste treatment and secondary raw materials | 966.8 | 1659.4 | 1573.3 |
| 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Total | 55778.3 | 58927.2 | 61829.0 |
| Funds of enterprises | 10268.9 | 16762.7 | 27422.2 |
| Funds of the population | 24075.4 | 27871.4 | 23702.8 |
| Republican and local budget funds | 1497.9 | 318.2 | 161.9 |
| Bank loans of the KR resident | 2725.8 | 4136.9 | 2787 |
| Foreign loan funds | 11504.0 | 2122.8 | 2279.6 |
| Foreign grant and humanitarian aid | 2694.3 | 5957.5 | 3540.0 |
| Foreign trade turnover | Export | Import | Share in foreign trade turnover % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total | 4 058.2 | 997.9 | 3060.3 | 100.0 |
| CIS countries | 1 591.5 | 273.6 | 1,317.9 | 39.2 |
| Kazakhstan | 431.1 | 111.3 | 319.8 | 10.6 |
| Belarus | 28.4 | 6.2 | 22.2 | 0.7 |
| Russia | 988.4 | 74.0 | 914.4 | 24.4 |
| Tajikistan | 11.8 | 9.2 | 2.6 | 0.3 |
| Uzbekistan | 106.1 | 70.9 | 35.2 | 2.6 |
| Ukraine | 20.4 | 0.3 | 20.1 | 0.5 |
| Non-CIS countries | 2,466.6 | 724.3 | 1,742.3 | 60.8 |
| Afghanistan | 1.0 | 1.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
| Germany | 45.7 | 4.1 | 41.6 | 1.1 |
| Iran | 9.1 | 4.7 | 4.4 | 0.2 |
| Italy | 16.4 | 0.2 | 16.2 | 0.4 |
| India | 26.1 | 3.5 | 22.6 | 0.6 |
| China | 1,248.4 | 43.4 | 1,205.0 | 30.7 |
| Korea | 16.7 | 0.0 | 16.7 | 0.4 |
| Netherlands | 9.7 | 0.9 | 8.8 | 0.2 |
| United Arab Emirates | 6.6 | 3.6 | 3.0 | 0.2 |
| United Kingdom (Great Britain) | 552.5 | 547.6 | 4.9 | 13.6 |
| USA | 48.2 | 0.4 | 47.8 | 1.2 |
| Poland | 17.0 | 1.2 | 15.8 | 0.4 |
| Turkey | 212.5 | 59.4 | 153.1 | 5.2 |
| France | 17.3 | 0.0 | 17.3 | 0.4 |
| Switzerland | 12.6 | 0.0 | 12.6 | 0.3 |
| Japan | 32.1 | 0.4 | 31.7 | 0.8 |
Public transportation includes buses, electric trolley buses, and public vans (known in Russian as marshrutka).
Commuter and long-distance buses
There are two main bus stations in Bishkek. The smaller old Eastern Bus Station is primarily the terminal for minibuses to various destinations within or just beyond the eastern suburbs, such as Kant, Tokmok, Kemin, Issyk Ata, or the Korday border crossing.
Long-distance regular bus and minibus services to all parts of the country, as well as to Almaty (the largest city in neighboring Kazakhstan) and Kashgar, China, run mostly from the newer grand Western Bus Station; only a smaller number run from the Eastern Station.
The Dordoy Bazaar on the north-eastern outskirts of the city also contains makeshift terminals for frequent minibuses to suburban towns in all directions (from Sokuluk in the west to Tokmak in the east) and to some buses taking traders to Kazakhstan and Siberia.
As of 2007, the Bishkek railway station sees only a few trains a day. It offers a popular three-day train service from Bishkek to Moscow.
There are also long-distance trains that leave for Siberia (Novosibirsk and Novokuznetsk), via Almaty, over the Turksib route, and to Yekaterinburg (Sverdlovsk) in the Urals, via Astana. These services are remarkably slow (over 48 hours to Yekaterinburg), due to long stops at the border and the indirect route (the trains first have to go west for more than a 100 kilometres (62 mi) before they enter the main Turksib line and can continue to the east or north). For example, as of the fall of 2008, train No. 305 Bishkek-Yekaterinburg was scheduled to take 11 hours to reach the Shu junction—a distance of some 269 kilometres (167 mi) by rail, and less than half of that by road.
The city is served by Manas International Airport (IATA code FRU), located approximately 25 kilometres (16 mi) northwest of the city centre, and readily reachable by taxi.
