State-owned enterprises (SOEs)

The aim of the closing conference held in Bishkek on 08 June 2022 was to share key achievements of the Kyrgyz Audit and Financial Reporting Enhancement Project (KAREP) and lessons learned identified as part of an independent evaluation as well as to discuss next phase of reforms in the field of accounting and auditing. The event was attended by about 35 participants, representing KAREP key beneficiaries and including policy makers, regulators, representatives of the academia and of the profession and it was organized in a hybrid mode, i.e., face to face and online.

Two workshops organized by the World Bank Centre for Financial Reporting Reform (CFRR) to improve audit quality in Eastern Partnership countries — Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine — took place in Minsk, Belarus, from 10 to 12 October.

On 10 February 2022, the SOE Technical Note – integrated SOE Framework (iSOEF) was presented in a virtual workshop to the Kyrgyz Government. Building on the initial workshop in 2020 and taking into account the Government’s comments, final iSOEF Assessment analyzes the impact of the Kyrgyz State-owned Enterprises (SOEs) on the economy, assesses fiscal costs and risks stemming from SOEs focusing on the energy sector, and analyzes corporate governance and financial reporting frameworks, practices applied by the Kyrgyz SOEs.

The Kyrgyz Audit and Reporting Enhancement Project (KAREP) is working to enhance the investment climate in the Kyrgyz Republic by increasing the availability of transparent and reliable financial information, raising the quality of audit services and building trust in the audit profession, strengthening financial reporting capacity, and improving the public accountability of state-owned enterprises. Funded by the Government of Switzerland through the Swiss State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO) and implemented by the World Bank, KAREP became operational in September 2017.

On June 12, 2018, the World Bank organized its final Workshop in Baku under the ongoing technical assistance project aimed at improving governance and transparency of State-Owned Enterprises (SOEs). The Workshop was organized jointly with the Azerbaijan State Committee on Property Issues (SCPI), and convened the main in-country stakeholders engaged in SOE oversight, providing a platform to present a new SOE financial monitoring tool, developed with World Bank assistance.