Country Readiness Assessment Report – Kyrgyzstan 6. National major initiatives There are several major directions in which state institutions are actively involved: • • • • • • development of the legal basis for the information society; liberalisation of the information and telecommunications market; encouragement of competition: de-monopolisation and privatisation; provision of technical support for human rights via access to informational resources; state guarantee to citizens on information and telecommunication services (mobile telephones, satellite communications, Internet, e-mail, multi-media, distance learning, telemedicine); improvement of state management in the ICT field. The Ministry of Transport and Communications, the State Communications Agency and communication operators are jointly developing three programmes: • • • State programme on the development of communications in rural areas; regional informatisation programme “Internet for villages”; development of regional TV and radio broadcasting. Technological modernisation of telecommunications is proceeding as follows: • • • • Digital automatic exchange stations Digital data transfer technologies Fiber optical lines Satellite communications. The international SilkSat project is based on the use of satellite communications along the ancient Silk Road and is important for regional cooperation. In terms of this project, a Commission under the President and Satellite Technologies Center has been created. 70 % of the Kyrgyz territory consists of mountainous regions. In such conditions, instead of laying cables, it is more efficient to use terrestrial satellite technologies VSAT. A cost-efficient approach to the placing of a small satellite in orbit is available through Russian rocket launches. Kyrgyzstan is actively involved in numerous international agreements on the development of information exchange within CIS and regional cooperation in communications. Some of the major state initiatives include: • • • • • President’s Decree “About legal concept for informatization in the Kyrgyz Republic”, 17 October 1997; Concept on informatization development in the Kyrgyz Republic, signed by President of the Kyrgyz Republic, 14 February 1998; Decree of the Government of the Kyrgyz Republic “About creation and use of tax and insurance payers common database”, 25 February1999; President’s Decree “About creation and development of the State Computer Network and State Automatic System “Shailoo”, 26 March 1999; President's Decree «About creation of the State Computer Network based on Information 41