National Sustainable Development Strategy for the Kyrgyz Republic for the period of 2013-2017.

National Sustainable Development Strategy for the Kyrgyz Republic For the period of 2013-2017, consisting of two parts, containing 10 Chapters, focuses mainly on economic development of the country and, in particular, of agro-industrial complex, energy, mining, transport and communications, and tourism. In the sphere of environmental protection major attention is paid to environmental security, risk reduction and improvement of preparedness for emergencies and natural disasters. The goals in the agro-industrial sector are set forth as follows: (a) increase in the output of the agricultural complex, improvement of product quality and ensuring of food security of the country; (b) improvement of the efficiency of agricultural production and competitiveness of products of the entire agricultural complex; (c) improvement of the fiscal return from the agricultural complex; and (d) solution of social issues of peasants. In particular it envisages toughening of the requirements for agricultural land tenure with a view of preservation of soil fertility (physical, chemical and biological properties of soil). Another issue is related to improvement of management of public pastures and introduction of modern technologies for pasture management. The Strategy promotes expansion of export of the national agricultural commodities and foodstuffs. Policy measures also address extension and rehabilitation of irrigation networks and land reclamation with a view of raising agricultural land soil fertility. Increased efficiency of the use of water resources shall be achieved through: (a) improvement of government registration and monitoring of water resources; and (b) ensuring preservation and efficient use of water resources. The Strategy provides for the improvement of the functioning of state bodies and their interaction with the civil society in comprehensive protection of population and territories from the risk of natural and man-caused disasters. The goal shall be form a legislative framework to effectively manage disaster risks; to set up a national infrastructure to raise awareness about opportunities and methods for disaster risk reduction via information sharing; and to identify and include disaster risk mitigation and management into the Kyrgyz Republic’s development policy, programs and projects. The overall goal of the Strategy shall be to ensure the reduction of poverty and social progress on the one hand, and maintaining the level of environmental sustainability of natural ecosystems on the other hand, through more efficient planning and management of the national transition to sustainable development via various elements of “green” development. National Sustainable Development Strategy states as a priority the reduction in poverty, which means massive improvement in the quality of life in the rural areas, where 60% of the country’s population lives. Agriculture will become a reliable and guaranteed source of income and livelihood for rural population and will also ensure food safety of the country. Tourism plays an important role in solving social problems, by creating new jobs and improving the well-being of the population, particularly in rural areas. Currently, tourism is one of the priorities of the economic recovery. According to the official data, almost half of the children (48.5 percent) still live in poverty, and one in eight children suffers from extreme poverty and deprivation. Economic activity ensuring the reduction of poverty and social progress on the one hand, and not exceeding levels of environmental sustainability of natural ecosystems on the other hand, requires more efficient planning and management of the national transition to sustainable development through various elements of “green” development. In Kyrgyzstan the poverty level in recent years has been reduced significantly. The following objectives, with a view of increasing social welfare, will be implemented: (a) developing draft regulations governing the activities of non-state pension funds; (b) adopting diversification measures to protect accumulated pension funds; and (c) forming public support, ensuring transparency of the activities. If this policy is implemented, the non-state pension funds will be able to accumulate funds, which can then be invested in securities. As a result, these funds will serve as means of social protection against poverty. There will be a tangible, not just on paper, reduction in poverty from 37% to 25% by 2017, i.e. a decrease by 12%. There is a need to establish a comprehensive system of social and economic relations that aims to provide multi-lateral support to people with disabilities and senior citizens, to children from low-income families, to mothers of children of disabilities, to households with incomes below the socially accepted subsistence minimum. Citizens of Kyrgyzstan have access to pension coverage: they all have the right to either years-of-work, social or other pensions. In 2011, for the first time the average pension exceeded the minimum subsistence level. The government will continue its policy of annual pension increases to ensure a decent standard of life for all senior citizens. To date, a significant portion of the pensioners is still unable to cover their needs through their pensions. Achieving effective and efficient pension system requires implementation of a number of measures aimed at improvement of the following key parameters: (a) tariff policy of the state social insurance in order to achieve its adequacy in relation to the different segments of the economically active population to ensure their access to meaningful pension in the future; (b) the policy of funding pensions from the state budget; (c) the policy of indexing pensions which should be based on the inflation levels and average pay dynamics in the economy; (d) improvement of investments of the assets of the accumulative component. There is a need to define uniform approaches to and methods of investment, control, and management of investment of pension assets. The key tasks here should focus on preservation of assets and achieving maximum return while maintaining acceptable levels of risk; efficient use of investment resources of the accumulative component. Prudent investment of pension accumulations could fuel economic development; improvement in security of non-government pension insurance. There should be measures taken to encourage development of non-government pension funds, with preserving safety of investors. Decrease in government spending must occur in parallel with increase in the effectiveness of spending, with concentration of resources on providing only those services where the state cannot be substituted by private sector providers, particularly, particularly education services, health care, targeted social protection. As part of this activity, efforts will be made aiming not only the improvement of social protection of citizens, but also the strengthening of opportunities for institutional investors capable of ensuring long-term financing of the country’s economy. The main vectors of the state information policy in the years 2013-2017 will be: ensuring compliance with the legislation for the purposes of preventing gender and other social supremacy. Due to this, the principles of the state youth policy are as follows: taking into account the interests and needs of various groups of youth, regardless of their gender, ethnicity, social status or religious affiliation. Some aspects of this problem were reflected in the Comprehensive Program for the Support of Family and Motherhood for the years up to 2015 and in the National Strategy for Gender Equality 2020, adopted in 2012. Implementation of this policy should be based on respect for human rights and gender equality. The goal of the public family and gender policy is to create a framework for enhancing the role of family as a basic unit of the society, for expansion of economic opportunities available to family and advancement of women and men. There is a need in special government measures to support families and gender development that would achieve the following objectives: (a) analysis of the true situation of family-related matters in the Kyrgyz Republic and development of comprehensive government measures aimed at strengthening the institute of the family, increasing its role in the society in comparison to other traditional institutions; (b) shift in the focus from political involvement of women to increased economic opportunities for women through the expansion of female employment into traditionally non-female occupations and expansion of women entrepreneurship support programmes; (c) adoption of measures to reduce the number of early marriage, reduce violence against women, consolidate positive traditions, support mothers and fathers in their exercise of parental functions and combining of career with family duties. One of the main criteria which drove selection of economic priorities for the years 2013-2017 was job-creation and unemployment-reduction capacity. The government should apply a new strategic approach based on the development of the financial sector on the basis of market-oriented growth of socially responsible institutions, on the basis of improved access of the socially vulnerable groups of the population to a variety of quality financial services and the supporting role of the state. Policy measures to address the quality of servicing and technical services for the agriculture and creating conditions for technical and technological modernization of agricultural production will focus on the following areas: improvement of the availability of financial resources for producers and the expansion of the number of financial services for rural areas (development of financial institutions in rural areas, lending, leasing, insurance, etc.)