Since the collapse of the Soviet Union, the reform of private and economic law has been one of the priorities on GTZ's agenda in CIS countries. Unequivocal legal frame conditions are an indispensable precondition for successful entrepreneurial activity and for investment on the part of domestic as well as international companies. Legal security, transparency and the rule of law are thus the abiding goals of GTZ cooperation with its partner countries.
The Ministries of Justice and the High courts of Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan are participating in this project with the aim to establish a civil and commercial law on general and unified principles.
The hallmarks of GTZ consultation projects are close collaboration with the judiciary in the partner countries, the frank exchange of opinions with state institutions and a high degree of flexibility. Throughout the process of legal consultation, GTZ experts always made a point of participating in local drafting groups. Wherever possible, training measures for judges were organised and carried out in collaboration with the Supreme Court and the Bench of the country concerned. Much of the past years' success is owed to the rapid and effective reaction to specific requests of partner countries made possible by personal continuity and the long-term perspective of the consultation projects (for more on the concept cf.: Rolf Knieper, "Judicial Cooperation: Universality and Context" (in german or russian).
Legal consultation in the Kyrgyz Republic began in 1996/97 with cooperation on the reform of the law governing cooperatives. All activities were coordinated by the regional GTZ Legal Reform in the Transformation States project office led by Rolf Knieper, Professor of Private Law at the University of Bremen. From the outset, the project office in Bremen adopted a holistic approach and was prepared for the task to cover a long period. Other major project activities besides consultation on drafting private and economic legislation included active support in the implementation of the new laws, their publication and dissemination to the population.
In the Kyrgyz Republic it was possible to overcome the traditional division common to CIS states between the jurisdiction of the civil courts, on the one hand, and the commercial courts on the other. In 2003 GTZ advice on the organisation of the courts led to the concentration of the highest jurisdiction in the hands of one Supreme Court, providing a guarantee for unitary decisions. In addition, a law, governing arbitration proceedings, was passed that conforms to the requirements of modern arbitral jurisdiction. It remains to be seen whether the number of arbitration proceedings will now increase.
Following a request from the partner institutions, the project is now planning to provide advice and assistance in the area of law referring to notaries public and execution of judgement. In June 2004, a high-level delegation from the Kyrgyz Republic will visit Hanover and Oldenburg to gather information on the following areas of legislation: notaries public, the execution of civil-law judgements, the work of civil courts, the work of administrative courts, the organisation of the Bar, the organisation of the Ministry of Justice and the training and further education of judges.
The educational seminars on the subject of civil law, run jointly with the Supreme Court since 2003 will be continued, not only in the capital Bishkek, but also at some regional courts in the provinces. These seminars not only deal with current issues of civil and economic jurisdiction, but also with methodological aspects of training the Bench.
In the interests of a better understanding between the judiciary and the media, a special seminar was held for press spokespersons. A follow-up seminar in 2004 will review the progress in this respect.
In the autumn of 2003, a joint meeting of Central Asian Bench Associations took place in the Kyrgyz Republic, with the support of GTZ. A further such meeting is planned for 2004 in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, on the central topics of judicial reform (independence of the courts, the assignment of actions, access to the courts). It is envisaged that a number of joint recommendations will be agreed to that are capable of being realised in the medium term and whose efficacy can be tested.
In March 2004, a cooperation agreement was signed in Hanover between GTZ and the Bundesland Lower Saxony that is intended to intensify cooperation and mutual exchange with members of the German legal professions. The Ministry of Justice for the Bundesland Lower Saxony, the Regional Appeal Court and the District Court of Oldenburg, whose civil judges are taking part in educational seminars in the Kyrgyz Republic, will supervise future cooperation in this field.
One of the most important tasks remaining is to promote regional cooperation on legal and judicial reform between the individual countries concerned and to step up the German contribution towards the implementation of reform legislation. The main thrust of reform efforts should now be to coordinate and consolidate the various new laws, as well as their institutional implementation, and reinforcement of the economic law reform already in place. This will include reform of the judiciary, state-run training and further education for members of the legal professions, as well as first steps towards the drafting of a modern administrative law. A database of legislation that allows comparative studies of new legislation in the Central-Asian countries can be accessed at http://www.cis-legal-reform.org.