A final conference of a project under which the OSCE provided training to Water User Associations (WUA), irrigation equipment and construction material for canal renovation to reduce the potential for conflict over water distribution in Kyrgyzstan, took place today.

Six alumni from the University of Central Asia’s, School of Professional and Continuing Education (SPCE) Mountain Tour Operator (MTO) programme have established a cooperative to sell traditional Pamiri crafts.

Building public trust in the judiciary through the fair selection of judges was the focus of a two-day training seminar that ended in Bishkek today.

An audience of over 400 representatives of academic, cultural, international and government institutions and students of music attended the launch of Kyrgyz Küüs: Analysis, Thoughts, and Opinions, Volumes I and II, hosted by the University of Central Asia (UCA) at the Academic Opera and Ballet Theatre in Bishkek on 5 October 2011. Published by UCA, the two-volume publication in Kyrgyz language on Kyrgyz küü - instrumental music played on the three-stringed komuz instrument - presents history, narratives and analysis by renown Kyrgyz ethno-musicologist and komuz player Asan Kaybylda uulu, based on over 20 years of original ethnographic research and careful restoration of komuz melody recordings.

Catherine Ashton, the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and Vice-President of the Commission made today the following statement:

The event will be held at the invitation of the 2011 OSCE Chairperson-in-Office, Lithuanian Foreign Minister Audronius A?ubalis.

Growth in the eight countries of the Caucasus and Central Asia (CCA) is expected to remain fairly robust, but policymakers should be mindful of inflation risks and take advantage of the strong recovery to rebuild policy buffers and prepare for any downside risks that might materialize, the IMF says in its latest assessment.

Study tour of prison officials of the Kyrgyz Republic to the Ankara, Turkey was organized in the framework of the European Union and United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime “Support to Prison Reform in the Kyrgyz Republic”. The overall objective of the study visit was to provide an opportunity to learn best practice in income generating activities in the prison system with the successful prison industry.

Today the OSCE Centre in Bishkek presented to the  Kyrgyz Interior Ministry Internal Troops two minivans to strengthen the operational security at Kambar-Ata 2 hydro-power station in the southern Kyrgyzstan.