Kyrgyzstan
Since January 2016, the Kyrgyz Republic benefits from preferential access to the EU market as a beneficiary of the GSP+ which requires the ratification of 27 core international conventions on human and labour rights, environmental protection, and good governance. Kyrgyzstan is a lower-middle income economy with a per-capita income of $1,970 in 2023. Total EU imports from the Kyrgyz Republic amounted to about €116 million in 2023. As most of the country's exports enter the EU duty-free under the EU's normal tariff regime, the scope for preferential imports under the GSP+ is limited - these stood at €5.2 million in 2023. Although the country faces a number of structural challenges, such as a high dependence on remittances and a large informal sector, GDP growth has been high in recent years, reaching 6.2% in 2023.
What is the GSP+?
The GSP+ is a special incentive arrangement for Sustainable Development and Good Governance that supports vulnerable developing countries. Next to fulfilling the eligibility requirements of the Standard GSP, GSP+ countries are required to ratify 27 international conventions on human rights, labour rights, environmental protection and climate change, and good governance. In order to ensure effective implementation of the conventions as well as compliance with reporting obligations, the EU engages in monitoring activities with the GSP+ countries. GSP+ beneficiaries can benefit from complete duty suspensions for products across approximately 66% of all EU tariff lines.
At a glance: EU preferential imports from GSP+ beneficiary countries (2023, € million)
7.1M (2023)
Population
Parliamentary Republic
Government
6.2% (2023)
GDP Growth
10.8% (2023)
Inflation
$ 14.0B (2023)
GDP
Facts about the Kyrgyz economy
Landlocked Economy
The Kyrgyz Republic is a landlocked economy, interspersed with mountains which set the basis for the country's high potential for hydropower generation. Kyrgyzstan also has a number of natural resources like gold, rare earth metals, coal, oil, and natural gas.
Export Products
The main export products of the Kyrgyz Republic are gold and other precious-metal ores, and petroleum oils. Important agricultural products for export are dried kidney beans, nuts and fruit, and raw cotton. Some manufactures, including machinery, plastic packaging materials, textiles, are also exported.
Trade Partners
A large part of Kyrgyzstan's trade is accounted for by regional trading partners - China, Russia, and Kazakhstan in particular. Among export markets, Switzerland ranked first in 2023 (39% of total exports, primarily gold).
Economic Structure
Services (51% in 2023) contributes the largest share to the Kyrgyz GDP, followed by the industry sector (23%), which is dominated by mineral extraction. Other industries include small machinery, textiles, and food processing.
Usage of GSP+ Preferences
About 5% of the EU's total imports from the Kyrgyz Republic make use of preferences granted under the GSP+. This is because most of the country's exports enter the EU duty-free under the EU's normal tariff regime. The GSP preference utilisation rate in 2023 was 45%.
Trade with the EU
Total trade with the Kyrgyz Republic amounted to €921 million in 2023. With a share of approximately 6%, the EU is Kyrgyzstan's fifth most important trading partner, but its third most important supplier.
The Kyrgyz Republic and the EU
Imports from the Kyrgyz Republic by product section (2023, € million)
Imports from Kyrgyz Republic over time (€ million)
THE KYRGYZ REPUBLIC AND THE EU GSP
Economic Impact
The Kyrgyz economy can be considered vulnerable and is, with a vulnerability score of 0% noticeably below the threshold of 7.4%. In addition, Kyrgyzstan's economy is mostly concentrated on a small bandwidth of products. The country's diversification percentage stood at 84.8% in 2019 with the minimum diversification threshold standing at 75%.
10%
Share of the Kyrgyz Republic’s exports to the EU in 2023 that were eligible for tariff reductions under the GSP+.
45%
Kyrgyzstan's preference utilisation rate in 2023.
94%
Share of zero-duty imports from Kyrgyzstan. Most imports are duty-free under normal EU tariffs.
Preference utilisation and export diversification
EU imports from Kyrgyzstan (€ million)
Preference utilisation (%) vs. total eligible imports (in € million)
Most EU imports from the Kyrgyz Republic are duty free under the EU's normal tariffs, and therefore GSP+-eligible imports account for a relatively small share. The value of eligible imports was highly volatile over the years, but imports in 2022 and 2023 were among the highest since 2014. In most of the recent years, the preference utilisation rate of the Kyrgyz Republic was above 60%, having increased substantially following the country's transition to GSP+ status in January 2016. However, in 2023, the utilisation rate dropped to 45%. Use of the preferences varies considerably across product groups: among the most important ones, it is particularly high for fruit and vegetables, food preparations and footwear, whereas some other sections, such as edible oils. wood and wood products, ceramics and glass, and machinery, hardly use the preferences.
The largest product sections under the GSP+ (€ million, 2023)
Preferential imports under the GSP remain concentrated on fruit and vegetable imports, which make up 77% of all preferential imports. Between 2018 and 2020 preferential imports of tobacco increased exponentially, and in 2020 it made use of 100% of preferences. Since 2020 the value of imports of tobacco, however, decreased by over 470 thousand euros. and this product is no longer in the top 5 GSP eligible categories. Similarly, the category S15b - copper, nickel, aluminium, lead, zinc, tin and articles thereof - was the second largest product section until 2020, with an utilisation rate of 93%, but despite increased imports, much less is currenlty eligible, (3%), and by 2022 the utilisation rate is at 0%. At the same time, the import of products from the category S09a - wood and articles thereof - represents the second biggest share of imports, of which almost 48% is GSP eligible, but the country has not benefitted from the preferential market access.
SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT AND MONITORING PRIORITIES
The Kyrgyz Republic has benefitted from GSP+ since 2016. In this time, the country has gone through several periods of change. Nonetheless, it has maintained steady engagement in GSP+ monitoring. There is untapped potential to maximise the economic benefits of the scheme. The 2020-2022 reporting period was also marked by the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic, significant political flux, and a worrying trend of pressure on civic freedoms and human rights and rule of law, amid large-scale legislative changes.
Monitoring priorities during the reporting period 2024-2025
Civil society space and media freedom
Torture prevention and criminal justice reform
Gender-based violence, violence against children, and discrimination against minorities
Labour rights
Protection from and prevention of child labour and preventing and combating trafficking in persons
Environmental conventions implementation
Anti-Corruption
Drug control strategy
For the reporting period 2024-2025, the EU has focussed its monitoring activities on eight priority areas, primarly on civic freedoms, human rights and rule of law.
EU-Kyrgyz Republic Bilateral Development Cooperation
DG INTPA
Access all info about EU-Kyrgyzstan relations on the International Partnerships website.