The President commented on the replacement of indefinite driver's licenses and named the reasons for the initiative.
The head of state pointed out that the issue of driver's licenses has not been reviewed for nearly 30 years, and many documents were produced outside of Kyrgyzstan with low quality and weak security.
"Previously, our passports and driver's licenses were made abroad, and their security features were unreliable. Since last year, we have started producing all state documents at our enterprise 'Uchkun,'" noted Japarov.
He also emphasized that Kyrgyzstan is now independently producing technical passports, driver's licenses, and state vehicle registration plates, and the quality of the new documents has significantly improved.
Combating Counterfeiting
The president noted that there were previously recorded cases of the sale of counterfeit Kyrgyz documents among migrants in Russia and Kazakhstan. According to him, such documents are still in use, including in Russia."There are facts that our ID passports and licenses were counterfeited and sold among migrants. Even now, fake ID passports and driver's licenses continue to be used in Russia," he added.
Additionally, Japarov reported cases of terrorists being detained with counterfeit Kyrgyz passports, which has affected the international image of the country.
"These facts damage the reputation of Kyrgyzstan. We intend to completely eliminate the problem of counterfeiting," emphasized the president.
The state has decided to organize a free exchange of old driver's licenses and withdraw them from circulation so that they can no longer be used both within the country and abroad.
The president also added that some citizens acquire counterfeit driver's licenses in Russia and use them in Kyrgyzstan. In this regard, a nationwide inventory of all driver's licenses and other official documents is being conducted.
"The main goal of these measures is to identify illegal documents and ensure the safety of citizens, as well as to protect the international authority of the state," noted Japarov.
Exceptions for Indefinite Licenses
In response to questions about the validity periods, the president clarified that all old ID cards and driver's licenses are subject to mandatory replacement, regardless of citizens' plans to travel abroad or drive a vehicle within the country."Some licenses are so worn that it is impossible to read the surname and first name, and the photograph is unrecognizable. Therefore, it is necessary to completely replace indefinite licenses," he explained.
The procedure for exchanging driver's licenses is available daily without weekends from 08:30 to 23:00. The president also announced that a medical certificate is no longer required for the replacement of indefinite licenses, which simplifies the process. However, for first-time recipients of licenses, a medical certificate is still mandatory.
Failures in the Operation of "Tunduk"
Japarov also commented on the recent failures in the operation of the "Tunduk" portal, which is also used for replacing driver's licenses.According to him, previously, digitalization in the country was only developing at the level of applications, while the technical infrastructure remained in a neglected state. There were no necessary investments, and the servers could not handle the load.
The president reported that 122.5 million soms had been allocated from the presidential fund for the modernization of the server infrastructure of the "Tunduk" platform, as well as 9.5 million soms from the republican budget for the first phase of modernization.
"The recent failure occurred due to a massive influx of citizens into the system. The load on the server was too great, and it could not withstand it," explained the president.
He added that work to resolve the issues in the system will continue and urged citizens to replace old ID passports and driver's licenses with new ones.
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