December 11, 2013, Bishkek, Kyrgyz Republic—IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, is helping the countries of Central Asia create an investment-friendly business climate, part of an effort to encourage economic growth across the region.
The Executive Board of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) today completed the fifth review of Kyrgyz Republic’s economic performance under the program supported by the Extended Credit Facility (ECF). The Executive Board’s decision enables the immediate disbursement of an amount equivalent to SDR 9.514 million (about US$14.6 million) to the Kyrgyz Republic, bringing total disbursements under the arrangement to SDR 57.08 million (about US$87.6 million). The Executive Board also considered the Report on the 2013 Financial System Stability Assessment (FSSA).
The University of Central Asia’s School of Professional and Continuing Education (UCA-SPCE) held a series of social entrepreneurship seminars for youth across the Kyrgyz Republic and Kazakhstan from 4 to 21 November 2013.
On 28 November 2013, the World Bank and the Government of Switzerland have signed an agreement, establishing the Kyrgyz Republic National Water Resources Management Project Trust Fund.
On 9 October 2013, 50 students from Naryn, Kyrgyz Republic visited the University of Central Asia’s School for Professional and Continuing Education (UCA-SPCE) Town Campus to learn about landscape architecture and UCA’s main Naryn campus.
Bishkek, Kyrgyz Republic –On 20 November 2013, the University of Central Asia (UCA) and the Kyrgyz Russian Slavonic University (KRSU) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for UCA instructors to pursue a Masters in Management degree.
Bishkek, Kyrgyz Republic, November 25, 2013—IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, is providing a $12 million financing package to Kyrgyz Investment and Credit Bank (KICB), helping the lender expand access to finance for smaller businesses and encouraging economic growth in the Kyrgyz Republic.
Naryn-based Tenir Too journalist, Klara Esenalieva, was recently awarded first place in the Development Policy Institute’s Movement for Budget Transparency national journalism competition in the Kyrgyz Republic. One of her winning articles, entitled UCA is the Future of Naryn, was published on 26 March 2013 by Tenir Too press. It highlights how the University of Central Asia (UCA) addressed community concerns regarding the construction of its Naryn campus.
As of Monday 18th of November 2013 the Embassy of Switzerland will join the “Visa Information System” of the Schengen countries and start to issue biometric Schengen visa for Switzerland. Biometric data (fingerprints and biometric photo) will be taken from visa applicants with destination to Switzerland.
The “Visa Information System” aims to simplify the visa procedure, facilitate checks at the external border crossing points of the Schengen zone and ensure the security of the visa holders. The application procedure is getting easier as fingerprints are saved for almost five years and applicants within this period will not need to give fingerprints for a second time.
Organised by EBRD UNCITRAL Initiative and WTO GPA Secretariat
Public procurement markets are an often neglected, but important part of international trade, amounting to the equivalent of 10 to 15 per cent of some country’s GDP. Modern procurement is about ensuring efficient and transparent processes and to promote this a workshop was held in Bishkek on 5-6 November.
Organised by the EBRD UNCITRAL Initiative in cooperation with the WTO GPA Secretariat the seminar was specifically tailored to review and discuss new draft procurement legislation by the Kyrgyz Ministry of Finance in the context of potential negotiations about the Kyrgyz Republic’s accession to the WTO Government Procurement Agreement (GPA).