It is important that President starts his work with development of regions - expert

Bishkek, Jan. 10, 2018 / Kabar /. President Sooronbai Zheenbekov begins his work with acute direction. This is a positive trend, expert Arkady Gladilov commented on the President’s Decree of declaring 2018 as the Year of Regional Development.

President Sooronbai Zheenbekov signed a Decree announcing 2018 as the Year of Regional Development. The Decree "On the Announcement of 2018 as the Year of Regional Development" was signed by the President on Jan. 9, 2018 and it will become the basic document for the development of the regions.

The expert said that over the past years, despite the ongoing policy aimed at decentralization of governance and strengthening of the regions, processes have taken place in different time intervals, which led to the concentration of all resources in the economic and political center of the country, including financial and human resources. "More than half of the population lives in the south of the republic, while the contribution of the southern regions and Osh city to the economy of the republic is less than 30 percent of the country's GDP. The south of the republic economically remains the least developed," Gladilov stressed.

As the expert specified, the Decree is very competent in its content, built with a clearly stated position. "It is very important that the President starts his work with an actual topic such as the development of the regions of the country. This is a very positive trend. The list of measures that are to be implemented this year under this Decree also looks very schematic," the expert said.

Gladilov mentioned that in recent years there has been a lot of talk about the need to develop the regions and focus on them, but in practice little has been done.

"Frankly speaking," - as the expert stressed, - there is a major problem - this is financing. Some regions show dependent mood, hence the load on the center increases. Naturally, the lion's share of all resources and opportunities is concentrated in two largest cities of the country - Bishkek and Osh. Taking into account the fact that LSGs (local self-government bodies) are empowered to solve difficult tasks themselves, it is necessary to get rid of the "principle of dependency" in some regions of the country."

The expert stressed that it is necessary to develop a plan for financial incentives for the regions, so that both the center and the specific region are strongly motivated in obtaining the desired result. Therefore, the main attention should be paid to the financial side.

"Another problem – not to rely on grant financial income. This is past. In current world economic situation, this tool is losing its significance, and it is certainly impossible to make a bid for this," Gladilov said.

"Regional development involves the achievement of targets by joint efforts of state authorities, the local community, entrepreneurs and civil society. However, mutual cooperation did not happen in fact," the expert concluded.