GOING FORWARD WITH KYRGYZSTAN'S THRESHOLD COUNTRY

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SIPDIS

SIPDIS

FOR AMBASSADOR DANILOVICH FROM AMBASSADOR YOVANOVITCH

E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/04/2018
TAGS: PREL PGOV EAID KG
SUBJECT: GOING FORWARD WITH KYRGYZSTAN'S THRESHOLD COUNTRY
PROGRAM


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Classified By: Ambassador Marie L. Yovanovitch, reasons 1.4 (b) and (d)
.


1. (C) Following is a letter from Ambassador Yovanovitch to
Millennium Challenge Corporation Chief Executive Officer
Ambassador John Danilovich.

Begin text:

Ambassador Danilovich,

As you take up the question of whether to proceed with
Kyrgyzstan's MCA Threshold Program, I wanted to take the
opportunity to convey my thoughts. I share your concerns
about Kyrgyzstan's poor parliamentary elections this past
December and worry about the government's conflicting signals
regarding sustaining and developing Kyrgyzstan's pluralism.

Yet, despite these concerns, I believe that going forward
with the Threshold Program without delay best corresponds to
meeting MCC's development objectives in general and
specifically for Kyrgyzstan. Here is why:

There remains much space and genuine hope for reform.
President Bakiyev in his first address to the new parliament
identified judicial and law enforcement reform -- the focus
of Kyrgyzstan's Threshold Program -- as priority areas.
Separately, he has instructed his staff to take measures to
improve the Kyrgyz Republic's MCC indicator scores. The GOKG
is aware of MCC questions about the elections. The
President's Chief of Staff and our MCC point person, Medet
Sadyrkulov, is preparing a letter to you with a statement of
Kyrgyz commitment and a list of concrete steps to improve its
democratic governance. Finally, despite the poor elections,
Freedom House still scores Kyrgyzstan higher than its
neighbors for political rights and civil liberties.

The Threshold Program has a good chance to succeed in
facilitating major improvements in Kyrgyzstan's governance.
At a time when parliament has been weakened as a check on
executive power, strengthening the judicial system becomes
all the more important. Changes will take place in the law
enforcement and judicial systems; we have the opportunity to
make them transformative.

The program benefits from political will. A wide range of
Kyrgyz officials took real ownership of this program during
the active negotiations; they want these reforms to go
forward. Prime Minister Chudinov told me that implementing
the program will be a priority. In addition, MCC champion
Sadyrkulov will lead Threshold implementation and has
consistently stated his commitment to ensuring that
governance reforms proceed. The program targets Kyrgyzstan's
most serious shortcomings in promoting rule of law and
reduction of corruption in the judiciary, law enforcement,
and criminal justice systems. There is widespread consensus
-- even in the Ministry of Justice, which will lose power --
on the necessity and the substance of reforms outlined by the
Threshold Program. Just last week, civil society members
told me that what is needed in Kyrgyzstan is training for
judges and the police, so they know how to behave in a rule
of law society; this is exactly what the Threshold Program
envisions. The conditions are good for successful
implementation now.

Delaying the launch of the Threshold Program could imperil
the program. After two years of negotiations and a finalized
text of the Threshold Program agreement that includes several
conditionalities for assistance, any further delay would
likely convince the Kyrgyz that we never seriously intended
to go forward. MCC could lose tremendous leverage to make a
real difference. It could also have negative implications
for other U.S. programs, as well as the bilateral

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relationship.

The Kyrgyz understand that they need to improve the ruling
justly indicators and are committed to doing so. The
Threshold Program itself recognizes that Kyrgyzstan has
shortcomings and contains extensive conditionalities which
allow us to monitor progress and suspend the program if
warranted. MCC has the opportunity to become a change agent
in Kyrgyzstan. I recommend that we move forward with the
Threshold Program, as I firmly believe that MCC's investment
in Kyrgyzstan's future now will pay big dividends later.

I look forward to working with you and your staff on how MCC
plans to proceed with Kyrgyzstan's Threshold Program.

Sincerely,

Marie Yovanovitch

End text.
YOVANOVITCH