On July 5, 2023, Executive Director of the International Business Council Askar Sydykov spoke about the main proposals for improving the investment climate and business environment in the country at a meeting between the Chairman of the Cabinet of Ministers Akylbek Japarov and representatives of the country's business community.

“In the course of preparation for the meeting, we received many requests from members of our business association – companies operating in various sectors of the economy. In my speech, I tried to mention only the main proposals on the investment climate and on three sectors of the economy. This suggests that meetings with business should be held more often,” the IBC head said.

How to improve the investment climate?

To improve the investment climate and the image of Kyrgyzstan abroad, Askar Sydykov suggested attracting one of the world's largest management consulting companies such as McKinsey, Bain or BCG. Such a firm could develop an effective action plan to attract investment or a strategy for the development of priority sectors of the economy.

The IBC head focused on measures to protect private property and investments, to exclude unreasonable interference of state bodies and officials in business activities, establishing responsibility for this, as well as for unjustified suspension or termination of business activities.

“It is necessary to revise the performance indicators of all government agencies so that each of them is to some extent responsible for the indicators of economic development. So that not only the Ministry of Economy and the Investment Agency are responsible for the economy,” added Sydykov.

It is necessary that other government agencies, including law enforcement or supervisory ones, feel their responsibility for the possible flow of investments, their reduction, for the suspension or termination of enterprises, the reduction of jobs – for their contribution to the economic development of the country.

Each government agency should be faced with the task of improving the position of Kyrgyzstan in international rankings.

Food industry

Reporting on the problems of the food industry, Askar Sydykov suggested revising the initiative for mandatory labeling of food products.

In order not to burden manufacturers with additional requirements, mandatory labeling should not be extended to food products intended for the domestic market, and not for export.

“The issue of tax administration in the food industry requires a separate meeting. There are comments from businesses on the recently adopted law on limiting the circulation of plastic film bags. The law was adopted hastily and does not sufficiently take into account the realities of the local market and international practice,” the IBC head said.

Telecommunications

Companies operating in the telecommunications sector have a lot of questions about the recently adopted amendments to a number of laws, as well as to the Code of Offenses in order to control the information that minors receive. The law obliges telecom operators to filter content.

“For such filtering, telecom operators do not have the necessary equipment, so we ask the government to review this law and make the necessary amendments to it,” Sydykov said.

Many cellular operators face problems installing base stations that provide communication in remote regions of the country. Often, local authorities unreasonably refuse to provide mobile operators with such sites. IBC proposed to promptly resolve this issue so that there are no unreasonable refusals to provide land plots.

Subsoil use

Commenting on the problems of business in the field of subsoil use, Askar Sydykov said that the ban on the export of ores and concentrates of precious metals is inappropriate, since there are difficulties with its implementation in practice.

Moreover, many companies that are residents of Kyrgyzstan and are engaged in production activities on the territory of the EAEU face the problem of VAT refunds.

The issue of forced replenishment of deposit accounts of state bodies by business is still relevant in the industry. Therefore, it is necessary to limit the unreasonable replenishment of deposit accounts without appropriate judicial acts, so that this is not used as an instrument of pressure.

“There are many problems in the field of subsoil use today, for the solution of which we asked to hold a separate meeting. The head of the Cabinet of Ministers supported our proposal,” said Sydykov.