Kyrgyzstan is a partner country for German development cooperation. Since the early 1990s, GTZ has been implementing programmes and projects in Kyrgyzstan mainly on behalf of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ). Recently, the Federal Foreign Office and the Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety (BMU) have also played an active role in Kyrgyzstan.

In the transition from a centralised planned economy to a competitive social market economy, the country is facing a number of social and economic challenges. The political and economic upheavals that followed the founding of Kyrgyzstan as a state, combined with increased international competition, have led to social conflicts and regional disparities. These culminated in several days of unrest in March 2005, which resulted in a change of government. The political situation has been tense ever since.

Over the last decade, various factors have caused poverty in Kyrgyzstan to rise rapidly, including regional barriers in customs and trade, an unwieldy administration, a relatively small domestic market with low purchasing power, one-sided export dependencies and the disruption of former economic and trade relations. According to the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), 41 percent of the population lives below the national poverty line. After the demise of the Soviet Union, manufacturing industry almost completely collapsed. At present, Kyrgyzstan has to contend with a soaring rate of inflation, estimated to be at least 30 percent in 2008.

In accordance with Kyrgyzstan’s Country Development Strategy (CDS), German development cooperation focuses on the priority area of sustainable economic development., Economic stabilisation, acceleration of structural reforms and debt reduction are key objectives of the CDS, in order to reduce poverty nationwide. GTZ’s projects make a flanking contribution towards developing the private sector and also promote the vocational training system and provide microfinance services.

Other projects and programmes support the health sector and legal and judicial reform. In recent years, there has been a move in Central Asia away from bilateral towards regional inter-country programmes and projects, which is likely to continue. 

GTZ has maintained a coordination office in the Kyrgyz capital of Bishkek since 1992.