Presidential decree aims to tackle urgent road safety issues in Kyrgyzstan

In December 2021, President of the Kyrgyz Republic, Sadyr Japarov, signed a Decree aimed at taking “urgent action on road safety issues” in the country.

The Decree makes reference to the UN Global Plan of Action for the Decade of Action for Road Safety 2021-2030, that was presented to Government representatives at the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Ministry of Transport by Public Association ‘Road Safety’ shortly after its launch in October last year, and includes the formal appointment of the Ministry of Internal Affairs as the lead agency on road safety issues in the Kyrgyz Republic with provision for increased staff resources and financial support.

Chinara Kasmambetova of “Road Safety” said:

“The Global Plan offers a starting point for all stakeholders for the next decade. The more partners learn about start of the Plan and responsibility for achieving the objectives of the Decade, the more results can be achieved. Our daily work in this area is our contribution to the achievement of the Global Plan. The Plan will help us remind our partners of the commitments we have made and promote road safety in Kyrgyzstan. I would like to see purposeful activities of stakeholders and look forward to seeing the results of our joint activities to improve road safety locally and globally”.

This is a welcome development in Kyrgyzstan where the road safety situation requires serious attention. The scale of death and injury on the roads of Kyrgyzstan cost the economy around 5.2% of GDP annually.[1] At 2,190 deaths per million vehicles the road safety problem in the Kyrgyz Republic is one of the worst in the world. The primary victims of crashes in the Kyrgyz Republic are pedestrians, who account for 44% of crashes and 34.5% of deaths – among the highest proportions in the UNECE area.

[1] https://www.easst.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/Road-Safety-in-EBRD-region.pdf