During the inspection, it was established that the funding and social payments for employees of the Representation of the Ministry of Economy and Commerce of the Kyrgyz Republic at the World Trade Organization in Geneva (Switzerland) are carried out in accordance with the rules approved by the Government Resolution of the Kyrgyz Republic No. 190 dated April 6, 2023.
According to paragraph 16 of the specified rules, employees are paid salaries in accordance with the staffing schedule, and compensation for housing rent is also provided. If the employee's spouse is not employed, she receives 30% of his salary.
However, the funding of employees was carried out without the necessary legal grounds, as indicated in Article 33 of the Law of the Kyrgyz Republic "On the Diplomatic Service of the Kyrgyz Republic".
In accordance with Article 33 of this Law, the rules for material and technical support and monetary maintenance apply only to employees who are not part of the diplomatic service but are appointed by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Kyrgyz Republic to foreign institutions.
Article 4 of the Law defines that foreign institutions include diplomatic representations, permanent representations, consular institutions, and visa points that are subordinate to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Kyrgyz Republic and are part of the diplomatic service system.
The Representation at the WTO in Geneva is part of the Ministry of Economy and Commerce of the Kyrgyz Republic and does not belong to the diplomatic service. According to paragraph 4 of the rules regarding the Representation, it does not perform political, diplomatic, and consular functions, but is exclusively engaged in issues of the external economic activity of the Kyrgyz Republic within the framework of the WTO.
According to Article 6 of the Law "On the Diplomatic Service of the Kyrgyz Republic," representations of state bodies that are not part of the diplomatic service are considered representatives of the executive power and are subject to special conditions of organization and regulation, different from those provided for institutions of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Kyrgyz Republic.
Thus, the funding and social security of the employees of the Representation should be regulated by special normative acts corresponding to the powers of this executive authority, rather than by the norms applicable to the system of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Kyrgyz Republic.
To prevent violations of budget legislation, special attention should be paid to the delineation of powers, conditions of remuneration, and sources of funding between the structures of the diplomatic service and the foreign divisions of other ministries.
