OSCE, UNDP support first extended meeting of Anti-Corruption Council in Kyrgyzstan

BISHKEK, 22 September 2015 – The first meeting of the Anti-Corruption Council of the Government of the Kyrgyz Republic was held today in Bishkek under the chairmanship of the Kyrgyz Prime Minister Temir Sariev.

The Council aims at establishing a platform for developing mechanisms and implementing procedures and formats for social partnership between state authorities and civil society in preventing corruption.

“The Anti-Corruption Council has to become the basis for creating a national platform bringing together the efforts of government and society with a view to the ideological attack on corruption, the promotion of new values ​​in society and the development of new approaches for the elimination of existing and prevention of new forms of corruption”, the Kyrgyz Prime Minister Temir Sariev stated in his opening speech. 

Ambassador Sergey Kapinos, the Head of the OSCE Centre in Bishkek, said: “Civil society plays an important role in fighting corruption. However, the development and implementation of mechanisms of co-operation between civil society and the state are fragmented. In this sense, the Anti-Corruption Council can be an effective form of co-operation in the fight against corruption as there is an interest on both sides - the country's leadership and civil society.”

The OSCE also provided support in developing this platform for dialogue between the government and the civil society.

The Kyrgyz Prime Minister, representatives of Parliament, the Prosecutor General’s Office, and the Secretariat of the Defence Council as well as heads of state bodies, international organizations, civil society and the media attended the event.

The meeting was organized with the support of the OSCE Centre in Bishkek and with technical assistance of the UN Development Programme (UNDP).