The purpose of the visit to Kyrgyzstan was to identify business opportunities for Swiss firms, to foster relations with Kyrgyzstan as a member of the same voting groups in the World Bank and the IMF, and to see whether the support provided under Switzerland’s development cooperation program is relevant and effective.

Over the years, Switzerland has provided around CHF 370 million in grants to support the transition of the Kyrgyz Republic to a functioning democratic system and a sustainable market economy. The “Swiss Cooperation Strategy for Central Asia 2017-2021” foresees a total budget of about CHF 100 million for Kyrgyzstan for five years. Support to the Kyrgyz government in improving the business climate and to the Kyrgyz private sector to develop and create jobs is an important endeavour of the Swiss cooperation program in Kyrgyzstan.

During his visit, Minister Johann N. Schneider-Ammann met with the Prime Minister of the Kyrgyz Republic - Mr. Muhammedkalyi Abylgaziev, the Minister of Finance – Mr. Adylbek Kasymaliev, and with the Deputy Minister of Economy – Mr. Eldar Abakirov.

During its stay in Bishkek, the Swiss delegation met with representatives of the Kyrgyz private sector, as well as the Swiss business community in Kyrgyzstan. The Swiss Minister visited a local company that benefited from the support of the Swiss Cooperation under the Small Business Initiative Program. This program helps small and medium-sized enterprises to get access to financial and advisory services, which will improve their performance and enable them to grow further and create jobs.

Swiss and Kyrgyz representatives had constructive discussions on topics of mutual interest, in particular on the opportunities and challenges for the Kyrgyz economy in the context of regional initiatives like the Eurasian Economic Union and the Belt and Road Initiative. Swiss foreign direct investments – mainly in tourism, dairy and services – so far remain modest, but members of the delegation noted that they could increase provided international quality and sanitary standards and other issues could be addressed. In this regard, Minister Schneider-Ammann stressed that Switzerland stands ready to provide support to Kyrgyzstan in strengthening its national quality system and in enhancing trade facilitation.

Before coming to Kyrgyzstan, the Swiss delegation visited Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, and Uzbekistan.

The discussion was based on a draft "Plan of measures for optimization of the system of municipal services provided at the local level for 2018-2023". The elaboration of this plan was supported by the "Public Service Improvement" project, which is financed by the Government of Switzerland through the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation and implemented by the Helvetas Swiss Intercooperation and the Development Policy Institute.

In recent years various efforts have been made to optimize the system of public service provision in terms of legislative and regulatory improvements, however the area of municipal service provision has been lagging behind.  The implementation of the Law of the Kyrgyz Republic "On State and Municipal Services" has revealed some issues making it necessary to revise the existing system of service provision at the local level. As it turns out, local self-governments are actually responsible for delivering different types of services that are not reflected in the existing legal framework.

“The elaboration of the Plan and its further implementation are an important step toward improving the quality and accessibility of services provided to people at the local level” – said Danielle Meuwly Monteleone, Deputy head of the Embassy of Switzerland in the Kyrgyz Republic.

After receiving feedback from various stakeholders, the Plan will be submitted to the Interagency Commission under the Government of the Kyrgyz Republic for optimization of the system of state and municipal service provision for further actions for its implementation.