OSCE Academy helps Kyrgyzstan’s officials enhance skills in developing international trade policy

Kyrgyzstan’s international trade policy priorities were the focus of a 5-day training seminar for top governmental officials from 21 to 25 November jointly organized by the OSCE Academy in Bishkek and the National Institute of Strategic Studies.

The main purpose of the course was to enhance the capacity of Kyrgyzstan’s government in creating and implementing an effective international trade policy and preparing it for trade negotiations, in view of the prospective accession of Kyrgyzstan to the Customs Union of Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan.

Some 20 officials from ministries and state agencies, including the  Ministry of Economic Development, the Ministry of Finance and the Central Bank, and the Customs Service, who will be directly involved in the accession-related  negotiations and procedures, took part in the course.

Maxim Ryabkov, the Director of the OSCE Academy in Bishkek, said: “This training was conducted by leading practitioners of international trade law and was focused on a crucial issue for Kyrgyzstan - its possible accession to the Customs Union. The training was designed for a broad group of governmental officials and, among other things, deals with topics such as the practice of international and regional trade regimes, negotiating and lobbying for the country’s interests, and compatibility between regional arrangements and the World Trade Organization.”

In parallel, a high-level seminar on the advantages and risks of Kyrgyzstan’s possible accession to the Customs Union took place on 23 November with support of the OSCE Academy in Bishkek. Representatives of the member countries of the Union as well as of its ruling body and international and local experts participated.