BAKU, Azerbaijan, August 6. Kyrgyz President Sadyr Japarov has signed the country's Merchant Shipping Code, establishing a legal framework for exercising the rights of a landlocked state in international maritime transport.
This was reflected in a press release published by the press office of the Kyrgyz president.
"The code defines the legal, economic and organizational foundations of merchant shipping and implements the rights of the Kyrgyz Republic, as a landlocked state, to access the open sea and enjoy freedom of merchant shipping in accordance with international law," the statement said.
According to the document, the code will regulate merchant vessels sailing under the Kyrgyz flag, while separate provisions will apply to inland navigation on Lake Issyk-Kul under national inland water transport legislation.
The legislation also establishes legal guarantees for state-owned non-commercial vessels, including jurisdictional immunity in accordance with international law and treaties to which Kyrgyzstan is a party. The code will enter into force six months after its official publication.
The adoption of the code follows Kyrgyzstan's accession to the Convention on the International Maritime Organization (IMO) in 2024 and creates the domestic legal framework required for participation in international merchant shipping. Although the country has no coastline, international law grants landlocked states the right to register vessels under their own flag and access global maritime trade through transit states.
Trend's analysis suggests the timing of the legislation is significant, as it comes just weeks after Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari's visit to Bishkek, where the two countries identified access to Pakistani seaports as one of the priorities of bilateral economic cooperation. During the talks, the sides discussed expanding the use of the ports of Karachi, Port Qasim and Gwadar for Kyrgyz trade, alongside broader transport connectivity initiatives linking Central Asia with the Indian Ocean. While the Kyrgyz authorities have not directly linked the Merchant Shipping Code to those discussions, the two developments point in the same direction: strengthening the legal and logistical foundations for the country's long-term integration into global maritime trade despite its landlocked geography.
