ITC Programme presented its report for the work carried out in 2011 (en)

On December 2, ITC presented its report on the work completed by the Trade Promotion Programme in the Kyrgyz Republic in 2011. The Trade Promotion Programme is implemented by ITC, and is funded by the Swiss Government – the 3rd Phase of the Programme (2009-2012) had funding of 1.8 million USD.

Within the framework of the Programme a Project Steering Committee (PSC) was established to ensure transparency of activities undertaken by the Programme, and for better coordination purposes with the other projects, institutions and stakeholders. PSC is represented by donors, related ministries, trade support institutions and the private sector. At the end of each year ITC holds a PSC meeting, where the Programme presents its report for the past year and its plans for the coming year. Ms. Irenka Kronn-German, Programme Coordinator of the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs of Switzerland (SECO, Bern), and Ms. Andrea Studer, Deputy Director of the Swiss Cooperation Office in the Kyrgyz Republic and Uzbekistan, participated in the PSC meeting.

In the framework of the Programme in 2011 Design and Clothing companies took part in international exhibitions/fairs in Europe and Russia. The cohort of International Consultants provided individual recommendations on improvement of product quality and labour productivity to partner-companies of the Programme. ITC introduced a revolutionary methodology “3G Tailor” for training sewers/operators, which enables a decrease in the time needed to train personnel by 75%, and increases trainee performance efficiency. As a result of the introduction of these recommendations, partner-companies were able to decrease the level of defects, improve overall quality of products, and increase labour productivity by 15-20%. Some of the companies have switched to flow-production, introduced in-process quality control management tools, and improved compensation systems.

The Programme actively involves representatives of universities and consulting companies in its activities. ITC training courses were included in the educational programmes of several major universities in Kyrgyzstan, such as Kyrgyz State Technical University, Kyrgyz State University of Construction, Transportation and Architecture, and Arabaev Kyrgyz State University.