The week was not as active as the last. However, important events took place, in particular, Kyrgyzstan was recognized as a partly economically free country in the international arena, ahead of many CIS countries and the EAEU, Blockchain’s work was shown for the first time in one of the country's fish farm’s practical work, a competition was announced for the quality of goods produced in the country in 2020. It was also announced that there was a war of goods with Kazakhstan. One of the indicators of Kyrgyzstan’s serious mood in the transit of goods was the repeated appeal to the WTO Appeals Commission to the actions of Kazakhstan, which Kyrgyzstan itself accuses. Data on the volume of investments in Kyrgyzstan in 2019 were also published. In general, the week turned out to be quite favorable for the country.
Repeated appeal. Kyrgyzstan expressed concern about Kazakhstan’s actions regarding freight carriers from Kyrgyzstan. This time, the WTO Appeals Commission intends to assess Kazakhstan’s illegal actions in relation to Kyrgyz transit. This is perceived by Kyrgyzstan as a hidden restriction on trade in the struggle for control of goods flows from China to Russia.
On March 3, 2020, at the meeting of the General Council at WTO Headquarters, the second most important body of the WTO, Kyrgyzstan raised trade concerns regarding the actions of Kazakhstan in relation to freight carriers from the Kyrgyz Republic. Following the meeting, information was posted on the website of the Ministry of Finance of the Republic of Kazakhstan regarding the statement of the Kyrgyz Republic to the WTO General Council, according to which Kyrgyzstan provides its comments.
To resolve the situation on the border, Kyrgyzstan made every possible effort to resolve the situation both on a bilateral basis and at the EAEU site. Only after exhausting all possible resources at various levels and sites, the Kyrgyz Republic decided to raise the issue at the WTO site. To inform WTO member countries, the Kyrgyz Republic distributed a notification in the WTO system, which reflects statistical data on the consequences of Kazakhstan’s actions on freight transportation from the Kyrgyz Republic. Information in multimedia format was also transmitted to the attention of WTO members for a complete picture of the facts of abuse of authority by the inspection bodies of Kazakhstan.
Free country. Kyrgyzstan has ranked 79th with index 62.3, entering the category of a Moderately Free economy. Such data is presented by the Heritage Foundation U.S. research center.
Kyrgyzstan has overtaken all member-states of Commonwealth Independent States (CIS), except Kazakhstan, which is ranked 59th.
Moldova ranked 97th, Russia 98th, Belarus 104th, Tajikistan 122nd, Uzbekistan 140th, Ukraine 147th, Turkmenistan 164th.
Index of Economic Freedom (IEF) is calculated by 10 indicators: property rights; freedom from corruption; fiscal freedom; government spending; entrepreneurship freedom; labor freedom; monetary freedom; trade freedom; investment freedom; financial freedom.
Practical blockchain. This week the practical implementation of Blockchain technology in a real-life enterprise was presented.
The operation of the system based on Blockchain technology was demonstrated in fisheries in Kemin region, which allows to track the process of growing, feeding, processing, sorting and transporting of trout to dealers / consumers, track information about fish health, what vaccinations it received and other data related to fishes. The demonstration of the new system was attended by Minister of Agriculture of the Kyrgyz Republic Erkinbek Choduev and head of the Central Asia International Development Company Corporation Yue Hefu. The Corporation assisted in the implementation of this system in Kemin region on the territory of trout fisheries in the village of Chon-Kemin. They got acquainted with the launched pilot project to introduce a tracking system for Kyrgyz trout based on Blockchain technology.
The answer to the Kazakhs. This week, the Ministry of Economy of Kyrgyzstan responded to Kazakhstan’s complaint to the authorities of the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) and the World Trade Organization (WTO).
The Ministry of Economy of the Kyrgyz Republic reported on the application of the mechanism for determining the minimum level of control prices regarding the appeal of the Ministry of Trade and Integration of Kazakhstan to the Eurasian Economic Commission (ECE) and the WTO:
After the Kyrgyz Republic joined the EAEU and the removal of customs control on the Kyrgyz-Kazakh border, the facts of unaccounted for transportation of goods to the territory of the Kyrgyz Republic without relevant documents and taxes, or with the reflection of inaccurate data with underestimation of the price and volume of imported goods increased significantly, which affects strategic and economic security of the Kyrgyz Republic.
Presentation of potential. Kyrgyz Ambassador to Turkey Kubanychbek Omuraliev this week made a working trip to the city of Mersin in Turkey.
During the trip, Omuraliev met with governor of Mersin province Ali Sui and mayor of Vahap city Secher, and noted the need for further expansion of trade, economic and investment cooperation between Kyrgyzstan and the province of Mersin. The trade turnover between the Kyrgyz Republic and this province is over USD 8 million. The ambassador also noted the importance of establishing and developing existing bilateral cooperation between the cities of the Kyrgyz Republic and Mersin.
During a meeting with entrepreneurs of the Chamber of Commerce and the Exchange, Omuraliev made a presentation on the investment climate and opportunities in the Kyrgyz Republic, on business conditions, macroeconomic indicators and foreign trade turnover of the Kyrgyz Republic, on the membership of the Kyrgyz Republic in the EAEU, distributed domestic investment projects, and also presented a video about the country.
Competition for quality. This week, a competition for the prizes of Kyrgyzstan on the quality of goods for 2020 has been announced.
The Kyrgyz Quality Award Council announces the competition for the Kyrgyz Prizes for 2020 “Quality and Safety: The Way to High Living Standards!” in the field of:
- enterprises for the production of meat and meat products;
- research institutions that have introduced new innovative technologies in production;
- seed farms;
- breeding cattle breeding farms.
War for the goods. Deputy Minister of Economy of the Kyrgyz Republic Eldar Alisherov at a meeting with Gegham Vardanyan, a member of the Board, Minister for Domestic Markets, Informatization and Information and Communication Technologies of the Eurasian Economic Commission, as well as with representatives of carriers, said that if the cargo was formed in Kazakhstan, nobody would touch it, and if the cargo is formed in Kyrgyzstan, it is being stopped.
“This is a kind of hidden war for the goods. We do not trust their statistics that they represent. They are all under pressure,” said the deputy minister.
Alisherov noted that this is already competition at the transport level. The struggle for the goods is made through the use of political leverage.
Investments in the Kyrgyz Republic. This week preliminary information on the inflow of foreign direct investment has been announced. These indicators in 2019 compared with 2018 increased by 2.9% and amounted to USD 876.2 million.
According to data of the National Statistics Committee of the Kyrgyz Republic, the inflow of investments exceeded the level of outflow by USD 210.8 million (in 2018 - by 144.2 million).
In the structure of foreign direct investment compared with the previous year, an increase in reinvested earnings was noted.
The bulk of foreign direct investment (more than 87%) is directed to exploration, manufacturing, mining, information and communications, as well as financial intermediation and insurance.
Kabar News Agency
Comments
Post Comment