OSCE Centre supports dialogue platform to fight corruption in Kyrgyzstan

BISHKEK, 12 April 2005 - The OSCE Centre in Bishkek, together with the Secretariat of the Consultative Council on Good Governance, has held a roundtable to address current and general corruption problems.

Representatives of the interim Government, the National Security Council, civil society, media, the business community and international organizations who took part in the event stressed the importance of preventive measures in combating corruption.

Speaking at the meeting, the Kyrgyz Vice-Prime Minister Daniyar Usenov underlined the two categories of issues - systemic and ordinary corruption.

"For the first category, there is a need for transparency and legal reforms, whereas for the second one there is a need to increase salaries for the civil service employees," he said.

Asim Acikel, Economic and Environmental Officer at the OSCE Centre said: "Speeding up the ratification process of the UN Convention against Corruption could be a very good start to fight corruption. This Convention provides a very good framework and guidelines on fighting corruption."

Vice-Prime Minister Usenov added: "Presently we are working on introducing tax amnesty and legalization of capital in order to bring people into the legal system."

Among the key issues discussed during the roundtable were the current problems of land seizure, looting, independence of judiciary and corruption in the police force, as well as in the customs and taxation bodies.