Reorted on cnbc no deal in 1 month nationalization threat . BISHKEK, Feb 26 (Reuters) - Kyrgyzstan's parliament voted on Thursday to give the government one month to finalise talks with Centerra Gold on the future of the Kumtor project and threatened to nationalise the Canadian company's gold mine if no agreement is reached.
The Central Asian state and the Toronto-listed investor have been locked in uneasy talks for more than a year on a deal that would involve Kyrgyzstan swapping its 32.7 percent stake in Centerra for half of a joint venture that would control the Kumtor mine.
On Thursday, the parliament voted 76-1 to pass a resolution obliging the government to finalise the talks in one month. It said that, while still negotiating with Centerra, the cabinet must also prepare a draft for Kumtor's possible nationalisation and submit it to the legislature by March 16.
"We should finally end this epic," parliamentary speaker Asilbek Zheenbekov said after the vote. "Today we adopted a tough resolution."
"But we still hope that you will be able to iron out all the disputed issues, and we expect you back in one month with good news," he told Kyrgyz government officials present. "Otherwise, we will have to begin work on nationalisation."
Centerra Gold officials were not immediately available for comment.