Kyrgyz Parliament Speaker, President of Federal Council of Austria discuss ties

AKIPRESS.COM - Kyrgyz Parliament Speaker Dastanbek Jumabekov met with President of the Federal Council of Austria Ingo Appe in Bishkek on June 24.
Jumabekov said it's been more than 10 years since the last meeting of the heads of parliaments of the two nations. In this period of time, Kyrgyzstan faced serious changes, including in its foreign policy. In 2010, Kyrgyzstan became the first in Central Asia country to choose a parliamentary democracy laying a solid ground for further stable and democratic development of the nation.
Jumabekov expressed interest in exchange of experience with Austria. "Cooperation between the nations require legal support, which will allow to take off unnecessary barriers."
Kyrgyzstan is also interested in expansion of trade-economic cooperation with Austria. In this regard, he welcomed holding of the 7th meeting of the Kyrgyz-Austrian commission for trade and economic relations, as well as the business forum this year.
He also reminded of the visit of heads of several Austrian companies to Kyrgyzstan in May to learn about business cooperation opportunities. He invited Austrian companies to invest in Kyrgyz economy. Visa waiver regime for holders of diplomatic and official passports could be another step towards strengthening ties between the two countries, Jumabekov noted.
Ingo Appe, for his part, said it is very important that Kyrgyzstan develops in the way chosen earlier and studies the experience of other countries.
He noted that protection of human rights is the fundamental for true democracy. But there are other indicators of the development of parliamentarism and democracy in Kyrgyzstan, which is already going ahead of some European countries.
Austria is interested in developing not only the political dialogue, but also trade and economic ties with Kyrgyzstan, Appe said.