According to Mike Stone, Project Director for the Freedom House printing press project, “the opening of the press marks the culmination of almost two years of Work by Freedom House”. The Independent Printing House is funded by the U.S. State Department\'s Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights & Labor. The Open Society Institute and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Norway provided additional support.

The new printing press will be an alternative to the monopolistic power of the state-owned printing press Uchkun and will provide services at competitive prices. The printing press enjoys Value-Added Tax-free regulation that allows cutting 20% of the costs for circulation services.

Uchkun had repeatedly refuted opposition newspapers for its negative publications about the government and the presidential administration. As the opening of the independent press was nearing, the director of Uchkun printing press, Kanybek Imanaliev, told the media that “Uchkun has decreased prices up to 20% and Uchkun will take measures to provide better services for its clients in terms of circulation period and other terms”.

The editor of MSN (previously Moya stolitsa, pressed to be closed under lawsuits) Rina Prijivoyt stated that the “IPH will foster the development of independent media in Kyrgyzstan. The new printing house will be used by those editors, to whom Uchkun’s prices and terms are not suitable”.

Jennifer Windsor, Executive Director of Freedom House, shares the viewpoint of the journalists. \"We hope that the new press will contribute to freedom of expression and the sustainability of the print media in Kyrgyzstan and throughout Central Asia,\" Jennifer Windsor said during the Printing House’s opening ceremony.

The editor of the “Litsa” newspaper, Bermet Bukasheva, claims that “the opening of a new printing house will help journalists of nongovernmental media to elude censorship and provide freedom of speech”.

The Independent printing press will be run by the Kyrgyz non-profit organization “Media Support Center Foundation”. Freedom House reports that “a broad-based Board of Directors, chaired by U.S. Senator John McCain (R-AZ), directs the foundation. The board also includes former U.S. National Security Adviser Anthony Lake, Kyrgyz Foreign Minister Askar Aitmatov, and other distinguished individuals from the U.S., Central Asia and Europe.

Ms. Windsor noted the positive support given to the new press by the Kyrgyz government, which also participates on the Foundation\'s board. \"We believe the press is an encouraging symbol of the partnership between the people of Kyrgyzstan and the international community to promote the free flow of information within the region,\" she said.

Many experts and local journalists think that the opening of an independent printing house will have a positive impact on the development of mass media in Kyrgyzstan, in an economic sense. However, some are not sure about the duration of this positive impact.

The Head of the Security and Defense Department of the presidential administration, Bolot Januzakov, told Akipress that “competition is always welcomed. As for the political consequences, it’s too early to talk about that”.

Ms. Bukasheva noted that “in the short term, the impact of opening an independent printing house will be positive. However, it’s hard to speculate about the long-term impact”.