Each chapter is devoted to solving specific problems, such as: • Elimination of ‘propiska’ (household registra tion and internal passport) • Introducing public-private partnership • Reforming the education system • Minimizing trade tariffs
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Kyrgyzstan earned independence on August 31, 1991. Yet, for nearly 20 years the country’s economy has been aimlessly drifting, with occasional ups and downs and the living standard suffering. This arose from Kyrgyzstan’s failure to adopt a clear vision for reform. The vision would serve as a guide for setting policy priorities and each priority backed by a sequenced action agenda. This is the roadmap toward a competitive and prosperous economy. Armed with a free-market, liberal vision of reforming Kyrgyzstan the Central Asian Free Market Institute has prepared a policy handbook. The handbook consists of 11 chapters and has been developed by young researchers with the support of renowned local and foreign experts. The uniqueness of the project is that it has been created with the participation of government representatives, international consultants, independent experts and think tank policy makers. This helps to minimize the influence of subjective factors, while taking maximum accounts of different parties.
The reform measures suggested in this policy handbook create the conditions for productivity, innovation and prosperity. Thus, Kyrgyzstan’s prosperity is based on creating valuable products and services by firms in the private sector. Prosperity will be unlimited because it is based on innovativeness and productivity of companies. Creating the conditions for productivity and innovation should be the government’s central policy challenge, while companies are the actors in the economy. Kyrgyzstan’s government must offer the most productive environment for business. The core areas for the government to facilitate in and foster are: • Enabling the evolution of a vibrant private sector • Strengthening capabilities within the government and private sector • Fostering a world-class regulatory environment in which competition is the central principle Every two years we plan to update our Prosperity and Justice Agenda. This will include updating the existing chapters with new data and legislatives changes that have taken within the period as well as adding new chapters (i.e. reforming security forces). Our goal is to show the relevance of the free-market in solving Kyrgyzstan’s acute economic, social and political problems. Gradually, we want policy makers and the populace to understand that the only way to pros-
Eleven Points for Kyrgyzstan’s Future
3