Swiss Cooperation Office in Kyrgyz Republic

COOPERATION BETWEEN SWITZERLAND AND THE KYRGYZ REPUBLIC

Swiss Cooperation with Kyrgyzstan began in 1992 when Kyrgyzstan joined the Swiss-led voting group at the Bretton Woods Institutions (International Monetary Fund, and World Bank) and at the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development soon after its independence. As such, Switzerland represents the interests of its constituency members, inter alia the Kyrgyz Republic, in the Executive Boards of these institutions. This special relationship was among the reasons that Kyrgyzstan became one of the focal partners for Swiss Cooperation in Central Asia. In November 1994, an official cooperation agreement was signed between the Swiss and Kyrgyz Governments and in 1996 the Swiss Cooperation Office opened in Bishkek. 

The Swiss Cooperation Office supports and supervises the projects of two Swiss Federal Agencies - the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) and the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO).

Swiss Regional Cooperation Strategy Central Asia, 2007-2011
Swiss Cooperation with Central Asia aims for sustainable development through poverty alleviation, facilitation of sustainable, private sector-led growth, equitable access to good quality public services and transition towards pluralistic and economically viable states by supporting countries in implementing their national development strategies in cooperation with other donors. A regional approach is applied in the strategic planning of technical and financial cooperation, while projects are designed by taking into account the specific needs and the national strategies of each partner country - an approach that can be summarized in the motto: "Think regionally, act locally".

In line with the Kyrgyz Country Development Strategy's four thrusts, Switzerland deploys technical, financial and humanitarian cooperation instruments in five main thematic domains: 
1) Healthcare reform;
2) Water management and disaster risk reduction;
3) Basic infrastructure (water and energy);
4) Private sector development;
5) Public institutions and services. 

Health Care Reform:
Objectives: improved access to medical care; higher quality service delivery; health promotion and public responsiveness; improved financial management of the health sector. How: alignment behind national reform plans and harmonised approaches for implementation, budget support and parallel support under a SWAP approach, strengthening capacities at the community level. Ongoing projects in Kyrgyzstan: Kyrgyz-Swiss-Swedish Health Project (co-financed by SDC and Swedish Sida), Sector Wide Approach with Health Budget support to the Ministry of Health together with the World Bank, Swedish Sida, United Kingdom (DfiD) and Germany (KFW), "Early detection and prevention of breast cancer in Kyrgyzstan" project implementing by local Public Fund "Ergene" in close collaboration with institutions of the Ministry of Health as National Oncology Center and Kyrgyz State Medical Institute on retraining and continuous medical education.  

Water Management and Disaster Risk Management: 
Objectives: to increasingly apply Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) principles in the Ferghana Valley and improve national disaster risk management capacities. How: addressing IWRM with a special focus on the irrigation sector in the framework of regional as well as bilateral interventions, strengthening the capacities of water users at the community level, Water Users' Associations and canal management and the interaction between the water management hierarchies, and on developing the data base for enhancing water and land use efficiency and effectiveness. Promoting synergies between disaster risk preparedness and prevention and management. Ongoing regional projects with Kyrgyzstan components: Regional Hydrometeorology Project, Integrated Water Resources Management in the Ferghana Valley, Canal Automation (Arawan Akbura canal), Chu River Trans-boundary Management Support, Central Asia Water Information Base (CAREWIB), Awareness Building on Integrated Risk Management.

Basic Infrastructure (Water & Energy):
Objectives: access to affordable, reliable and sustainable infrastructure, as a basis for economic and social development. How: By the rehabilitation of rural and urban infrastructure and support to decentralized community management respectively to establishing efficient and effective utility management, partly bilaterally, partly in co- or parallel financing, policy dialogue in the energy sector. Ongoing projects in Kyrgyzstan: Karakol Urban Water Supply, Electricity Losses Reduction Project (also called Naryn 3 Project); in pipeline: Bishkek Water Supply together with EBRD.

Private Sector Development: 
Objectives: to increase investments and job creation due to an enabling business environment. Increase export competitiveness of SMEs. The assistance is focusing on promotion of investment instruments as well as improvement of investment climate, capacity building of small and medium enterprises, as well as on the development of business services. How: strengthen the business environment through support to business law reforms and enforcement, simplification of administrative procedures, facilitate access to finance for SMEs, capacity building and technical assistance to improve the export competitiveness of SMEs in selected sectors. Ongoing projects in Kyrgyzstan: ITC Trade Promotion Project in the Kyrgyz Republic, Business Advisory Services Programme (BAS), IFC Business Enabling Environment, IFC Azerbaijan and Central Asia Financial Infrastructure (ACAFI) project.

Public Institutions and Services: 
Objectives: to strengthen the management of fiscal, budgetary and monetary policies for a transparent and efficient use of public resources. To protect peoples' civil and economic rights by empowering civil society and supporting governments at all levels. How: assisting in coordinated capacity building in public finance management, and macroeconomic policy decision-making, supporting legal reform, mainly law enforcement and access to justice. Ongoing Projects in Kyrgyzstan: Co-funding of Capacity Building Trust Fund for Public Finance Management (PFM) with Swedish Sida, DfiD and EC, co-financing with DfID PEFA Assessment for Ministry of Finance of KR, Public Debt Management and Government Securities Market Development, co-financing of the WB Capacity Building for Economic Management project, CADII support for the Aid Management, IMF Regional Economic Advisor and macroeconomic forecasting trainings project, Anti-Money Laundering Project, Legal Assistance to Rural Citizens (LARC), Arts and Culture Programme. Pipe line projects: Three year project "Improving Governance through citizens participation in the Kyrgyz Republic", which is in process of selecting implementing agency, 

Crosscutting themes - gender and governance - are understood as an additional dimension to development operations with the aim of enhancing program effectiveness and relevance. 

Financial support: Over the last 15 years Switzerland provided more than 175 million USD to Kyrgyzstan in the form of technical, financial and humanitarian support. The financial perspective for Swiss assistance to the Kyrgyz Republic in 2007-2010 is to maintain the same level of financial support, with average annual disbursement of USD 13-14 million. 



For detailed information about Swiss Cooperation in Kyrgyzstan and in the Central Asia please visit www.swisscoop.kg or contact our Media and Communications Specialist Tursunai Chodurova 
at (+ 996 312) 301036, e-mail: tursunai.chodurova@sdc.net