The full accession of the Kyrgyz Republic into the World Trade Organisation (WTO), which is expected to occur by the end of 1998, will have a significant impact on foreign trade. It will also help to attract foreign investment because the investor will be assured that the Kyrgyz Government has complied with all the requirements of the international community. Moreover, it has strong political meaning: Kyrgyzstan will be the first CIS country to be granted full membership status in the WTO.

The current programme of privatisation indicates that many major companies and industries are scheduled for privatisation by the year 2000. These include the national airline and power and telecommunication companies. Moreover, key companies in tourism, metals, and mining are also subject to accelerated privatisation. The Government intends to organise a tender in order to appoint privatisation advisors for these companies in 1998 and to carry out the privatisation itself at the end of 1998 and the beginning of 1999.

Currently the pension system is run on a pay-as-you-go (PAYG) basis and represents an integral part of the Social Fund (SF). The government’s major objective is to balance the SF budget through various procedures, including the sale of assets of debtor companies to the SF. From 1999-2000 the government also plans to develop a strategy for pension system reform and to begin implementing these reforms. The general approach will be to gradually implement a privately funded pension system which compliments the existing PAYG, while increasing the retirement age and personalising pension contributions.