The Charles University in Prague – the main university of the Czech Republic and the oldest university in Central Europe hosted the Prague Summer Mediation Academy with the participation of the representatives from the United States of America, Italy, Kenya, the Great Britain, Georgia, India, the Philippines and Kyrgyzstan. Ermek Mamaev, a lawyer of Kalikova & Associates, was also admitted to participate in the summer academy.

This course offered participants the opportunity of exploring the general issues on mediation as an alternative way of disputes resolution, mediator tools and skills, foreign mediation experience, as well as issues related to cross-border mediation. Lectures were conducted by recognized experts in the field of mediation and other alternative methods of disputes resolution from the Czech Republic and Ireland.

It should be noted that at the end of June the Parliament of the Kyrgyz Republic approved in the third reading the draft Law of the Kyrgyz Republic "On Mediation", which is designed to relieve the courts by introducing extrajudicial settlement of conflicts with the help of a mediator.

The World Justice Forum V took place on July 10 – 13, 2017 in the Hague, Netherlands. It was organized by the World Justice Project, an independent multidisciplinary organization, in cooperation with Microsoft Corporation and American Bar Association. The forum attracted 400 delegates from 75 countries, among who were practicing lawyers, current justices of the Supreme Courts, Stanford law school dean, ombudsmen and other representatives of the legal profession.

On the final day of the forum, 10 participants selected out of 400 presented their proposals on projects to strengthen the rule of law in their countries. The person who won the votes of the organizers and all participants of the forum was declared the winner. We are pleased to announce that the prize was awarded to Ermek Mamaev a Kyrgyz national and a lawyer of Kalikova & Associates law firm, who presented a project to strengthen the rule of law in Kyrgyzstan.

The World Justice Project releases the World's Rule of Law Index (The WJP's Rule of Law Index). This Index was introduced in 2010 and measures a country’s achievements in promoting the rule of law. The 2016 Edition expanded coverage to 113 countries with Denmark remaining the highest-ranked country in rule of law while Venezuela is the weakest performer among all the 113 indexed countries. Kyrgyzstan ranks 83-rd.

Nurbek Sabirov, Partner of Kalikova & Associates, prepared a handbook on arbitration “Concepts and legal regulation of arbitration in the Kyrgyz Republic”, which was published as part of USAID and IDLO project on strengthening the justice system in the Kyrgyz Republic.

The handbook was developed based on practical experience for the training of arbitrators of arbitration courts under the support of USAID and IDLO.

Nurbek Sabirov is an advocate and acting arbitrator of the International Court of Arbitration under the Chamber of Industry and Commerce of the Kyrgyz Republic, arbitrator of Riga International Commercial Arbitration Court and arbitrator of the Georgian International Arbitration Centre (GIAC).

The 6th Annual Ak Ilbirs National Film Award ceremony took place at Manas cinema theater on April 14, 2017. The awarding ceremony took place after the demonstration of films shot in 2016 and nominated in 2017. The demonstration of nominated films was held at Chingiz Aitmatov Cinema House in late March. The jury included the members of the Union of Cinematographers of the Kyrgyz Republic. Based on the voting results, A Father's Will, a film directed by Bakyt Mukul and Dastan Zhapar Uulu, was announced as the best film of 2016. It previously won a number of prestigious foreign movie awards.

The Path to Mother, Kazakhstan, won Ak Ilbirs award in the category “The best film in Central Asia”.

The prize for an outstanding contribution to the National Cinematography was awarded to writer and Academician of the National Film Academy of Kyrgyzstan Mr. Mar Baydjiev.

The prize for an outstanding contribution to the World cinema was awarded to Film Director Hodjakuli Narliev.

The 6th Annual Ak Ilbirs National Film Award was established to recognize the best achievements in the cinema in the country and to stimulate the artistic growth of national cinema in all areas of filmmaking.

Kalikova & Associates is a partner of this award and for 5 years has been coordinating the work of the jury and carries out counting of votes to determine the winners.