The Joint Country Support Strategy forthe Kyrgyz Republic (2007-2010) (JCSS), extended in 2008 tocover the period 2009-2011, identified the weak andinefficient Kyrgyz legal and judicial system as contributingto a poor business environment and weak governance. As aresult, JCSS partners identified 'comprehensivejudicial reform' as a program focus and a goal of theJCSS which was enlarged to include independence for thejudicial budget. As part of the JCSS, the World Bank programincluded the preparation of a 'judicial reformstudy'.In order to implement this program, the WorldBank and the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation(SDC) agreed to fund this judicial system diagnosticconducted by a World Bank diagnostic team complemented byinternational experts in specific sectors. Thediagnostic's objective is to provide an analysis of theinstitutional and operational issues and obstacles thatconstrain the functioning of Kyrgyzstan's legal andjudicial system. The diagnostic provides recommendations forovercoming key constraints both at the policy and theimplementation levels.