Ministry of Foreign Affairs

(Unofficial translation of the Kyrgyz Republic made by the HCNM's office)

No. 3 3-08/13

His Excellency

Mr. Max van der Stoel

The CSCE High Commissioner on

National Minorities

Bishkek, 11 June 1994

Your Excellency,

Availing myself of this opportunity, I would like once again to express gratitude for the attention you are paying to such a live issue for Kyrgystan as integration of national minorities in the Republic.

You are well aware that the President and the Government of the Republic are highly concerned about it and are paying the greatest attention to it, aiming at facilitation of the life of ethnic minorities in the territory of Kyrgystan to the highest degree.

At present, on the initiative of the President of the Republic A. Akayev, an intensive work is being dome on elaboration of a National Programme on preventing migration in the Republic. Within the framework of this Programme a series of purposeful measures are being undertaken and, in particular, these days in Bishkek a Round Table `Russians in Kyrgystan' is being carried out. It is devoted to the second anniversary of the Treaty on Friendship, Cooperation and Mutual Assistance between Kyrgystan and the Russian Federation and President A. Akayev will take part in this work.

Concrete measures are also being undertaken in order to implement state policy in the field of inter-ethnic relations `Kyrgystan - Our Common Home'. Among them one can mention for example regular meetings of the President of the Republic with representatives of different national and ethnic minorities, carrying out exhibitions on particular subjects, stone-laying ceremony before construction of a new Orthodox church in Bishkek with participation of President A. Akayev and many others.

In other words, the President and the Government of the republic attach an extremely high importance to the preservation of the civil peace, to the harmonious development of inter-ethnic relations and to questions relating to the prevention of undesirable for the Republic migration processes.

Concrete recommendations of Your Excellency are undoubtedly of a great interest for us and at present are being studied very carefully by our experts and are likely to be taken into consideration in elaboration of a final version of the national Programme on preventing migration in Kyrgystan.

Please accept, Your Excellency, assurances of the highest consideration,

Deputy Minister A. Jeshenkulov