BISHKEK -- With just weeks left in office, Kyrgyz President Almazbek Atambaev is taking some time off to put the finishing touches on a "national strategy for Kyrgyzstan’s stable development through 2040."
Atambaev, whose term ends when former Prime Minister Sooronbai Jeenbekov takes the oath of office on December 1, went on a "short-term vacation" on October 30, his press service said.
Atambaev plans to "finish the final variant" of the long-term development program known as Kyrgyzstan-2040, it said. He initiated discussions on the program in April.
It echoes similar programs in neighboring Kazakhstan, where President Nursultan Nazarbaev announced a strategy for Kazakhstan's development through 2030 in the 1990s and then replaced it with one called Kazakhstan-2050 in 2012.
Many in Kazakhstan considered the programs to be attempts by Nazarbaev to legitimize his long hold on power in the Central Asian country, which he has headed since before it gained independence in the 1991 Soviet collapse.
Atambaev was limited to a single presidential term by the Kyrgyz Constitution, but opponents say they fear he will seek to maintain influence after he leaves office.
Critics also charge that he used his influence as president to tilt the field in favor of Jeenbekov in the October 15 election.
The Central Election Commission formally declared Jeenbekov president-elect, saying that he received more than 54 percent of the votes cast in the country of about six million people.