Abstract: . . .  reaching the country's poorest regions. Additionally, the Financial Company to support credit unions has financed more than 180 leases. In Tajikistan, two banks have launched leasing products, and another two are developing new lease policies and procedures to start leasing operations. Page 5 Additionally, all four countries have recorded multi-million dollar cross- borderleasesfromforeignmanufacturers, banks, leasing companies, and other international lease providers. These positive changes in the legislation were due to constructive partnerships among the Parliaments, Governments, local commercial banks and leasing companies, with support from international financial institutions, including the International Finance Corporation (IFC) which has set up technical assistance projects throughout Central Asia to assist in the creation and development of leasing. These partnerships formed the foundation for dynamic leasing growth in Central Asia. Due to the market development, the International Finance Corporation has established an internal facility of $30 million to finance lessors in Central Asia. The creation of this Facility confirms IFC's view that favorable conditions for leasing now exist in Central Asia. The Facility also includes a technical assistance component aimed at improving internal lessor operations. Practice shows that this is positive stimulus for foreign investors and will bring additional investment into the region. INTRODUCTION 5 Page 6 6 LEASING IN CENTRAL ASIA LEASINGINCENTRALASIA: SYNCHRONIZATIONOFLEASING POLICYTHROUGHOUTTHEREGION B eginning in 2001 with the support of the seco - IFC Central Asia Leasing Project, the Central Asia countries have steadily improved their respective legal and tax frameworks. One result has been the unification of national legislations to support the development of regional investment in leasing. Amendments have been adopted to the Law on Leasing, Civil Code and Tax Code in Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, and new laws on leasing and amendments to the Tax Code were adopted in Kyrgyz Republic and in Tajikistan. This work significantly unified the legislations and expanded access to lease finance for entrepreneurs and business across the region. UNIFIEDELEMENTSOFTHELEASINGLEGISLATION 1. Definition of Leasing Unification of the definition of leasing throughout the region is based on the following principles: Mandatory participation of three parties to the lease: lessor, lessee, and supplier; Purchase of the leased asset specifically for transfer through a lease; The lease agreement must meet one of the several stated requirements (classifications), which are a combination of classifications for financial leases from IAS 17 and GAAP FAS 13; (classifications are not included in the Tajikistan Law on Leasing). Obligatory use of the leased asset for commercial purposes. Additionally, Kazakhstan has established a minimum lease term of three years, and Uzbekistan of one year. Page 7 2. Civil regulation Leasing is defined . . .
--3000,1,1500,3099,49775