Cabinet Chairman Zhaparov: Foreign Ministry should intensify work on economic diplomacy

Bishkek, June 15, 2022. /Kabar/. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs needs to intensify its work on economic diplomacy, Chairman of the Cabinet of Ministers Akylbek Zhaparov said this during a working meeting at the ministry. The head of the Cabinet reminded that according to the National Development Program 2026 approved by president of Kyrgyzstan, the goal is to provide the annual real economic growth rate at the average level of 5% with attraction of direct foreign investments not less than 13% of the GDP (about $1.0 billion a year). "In this regard, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is tasked to intensify exactly economic diplomacy and strengthen the work, primarily in three main areas: attracting foreign investment, promoting the expansion of tourism, promoting exports of domestic products. We expect concrete results from you in solving socio-economic issues and solving the set tasks," Zhaparov said, focusing the attention of diplomats on the promotion of textile production and production of bottled water. According to the head of the Kyrgyz Cabinet, the ministry and foreign diplomatic institutions are tasked with: - assistance in ensuring food security of the country; - attract investment, concessional loans, additional financial resources on favorable terms for the creation of bilateral investment funds; - development, taking into account the export potential of the republic, "export basket"; - implementation of the Roadmap for export promotion with specific targets for the end of 2022; - working out issues of improving visa policy, simplifying the issuance of visas to citizens of countries with which we have mutually beneficial cooperation. - reducing the processing time of applications for tourist visas to at least 36 hours.