View Vacancy - Prosperity Officer (KGZ22.191)

The successful candidate will join the British Embassy Bishkek’s Prosperity team, leading the Embassy’s work to promote and support trade and investment between the UK and Kyrgyzstan, monitoring key economic and business developments in Kyrgyzstan, and contribute to the implementation of UK economic development projects in Central Asia.

Roles and responsibilities:

Trade and Investment promotion (40%)

• Identify opportunities to promote and grow UK-Kyrgyzstan trade and investment, across a wide range of sectors e.g. Energy, Tourism, Digital/Creative, Financial Services, Education etc; 
• Building and maintaining relationships with British businesses considering entering, or already active in the Kyrgyz market, to provide support, advice and contacts as required;
• Working closely with UK Department of International Trade (DIT) offices in UK and Istanbul, and developing proposals to access central DIT funding for Kyrgyzstan-focused trade promotion activities e.g. research, events, delegations, communications campaigns, etc.;
• Work with the British Embassy Bishkek Political and Communications Officer, to increase awareness of the British Embassy’s support for the public and private sector in Kyrgyzstan, to publicise bilateral commercial links, and to put across Embassy messaging for example about the importance of Rule of Law for building economic growth. 

Economic and business reporting (20%)

• Monitoring and interpreting key economic and business trends and policy developments;
• Producing both regular reports and ad-hoc economic briefings on important developments/topics to inform policy and programmes;
• Develop and maintain a strong network of contacts in the Kyrgyz government, media and business community, to support reporting and wider Embassy work;

Supporting Economic Development Programmes (20%)

• Support the oversight and implementation of the UK’s regional Economic Development programming, on economic governance and private sector development. In particular, working on the UK’s Enterprise and Innovation Programme, which trains start-ups and SMEs in Central Asia through the PEAK Business Innovation Centres;
• Contribute to the design and delivery of new economic and private sector development programmes in Central Asia;
• Engage with fellow development partners on economic, trade and private sector issues. 

Promoting UK-Kyrgyz bilateral relations (20%)

• Lead the implementation of the UK’s Chevening Scholarship and Fellowship scheme in Kyrgyzstan;
• Oversee other UK bilateral programme funds in Kyrgyzstan, as applicable.

• Excellent verbal and written communication skills enabling effective communication and ability to adapt communication style to different situations in English and Russian (minimum C1 level for CEFR framework *);
• A relevant degree (Economics, Banking and Finance, Business Administration, International Trade or similar area);
• Minimum three years of work experience in a relevant field, including evidence of expertise with economic, trade and financial issues;
• Understanding of the Kyrgyz economy;
• Experience of preparing economic briefings/reports;
• Experience of programme or project management, including monitoring and evaluation, as well as budgeting mechanisms;
• Able to establish strong contact networks and deal effectively with senior level interlocutors;
• Willingness and desire for continual learning and development;
• Strong analytical and judgement skills;
• Ability and willingness to work effectively and flexibly;
• A self-starter that can work well both individually and in a team;
• MS Office suite (good working knowledge of Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Outlook).