With sights set on the future, Kyrgyzstan to switch to full paperless government

Zhaparov chairing a meeting (Kabar)

BISHKEK: In the latest stage in Kyrgyzstan’s journey to digitize life in all its aspects, President Sadyr Zhaparov has given the cabinet six months to be ready to transit to a paperless government.

Chairing the cabinet session devoted to discussing the country’s results in 2021, Zhaparov called for accelerating the introduction of electronic document management.

The government should be ready for the transition by the end of June.

“From July 1, we will stop buying paper for you. Therefore, from July 1, we need to switch to electronic documents and electronic signatures,” Zhaparov was quoted as telling the cabinet by Kabar news agency.

The transition journey will allow a grace period of six months, from July to end of December, during which the electronic document circulation and the paper document circulation can run concurrently.

The president said that 840,000 rams – around 1,000 tons- of paper were purchased for government agencies in the republic in 10 months.

“So, we need to get rid of paperwork,” he said, stressing that the parliament should start adopting online invitations for convening.