Kyrgyz, French presidents confer on bilateral cooperation issues
PARIS. March 26 (Interfax) - The presidents of Kyrgyzstan and France have met in Paris to discuss bilateral cooperation issues, the situation in Central Asia and Ukraine, and the implementation of the Minsk agreements.
"We had a long discussion about Central Asian affairs and spoke about the situation in Ukraine. We want peace in Ukraine to be real and everything necessary to be done for that," French President Francois Hollande said late on Wednesday night, at the end of negotiations with his Kyrgyz counterpart Almazbek Atambayev.
Progress in cooperation between the European Union and the Eurasian Economic Union (EEU) which Kyrgyzstan intends to join in May can be achieved through stabilization in Ukraine amongst other factors, Hollande said.
"We are interested in a profound and lasting relationship between the EU and the EEU, so that a number of issues, including Ukraine, develop positively," the French president added.
He reaffirmed the adherence of France to the Minsk agreements. "We want all sides to strictly comply with these agreements because the Ukraine crisis needs to be resolved peacefully; all interested sides should honor this deal and we will do our best to make this process a success," he said.
France will give full support to democracy in Kyrgyzstan, Hollande said, adding that they will also support Kyrgyz parliamentary elections.
"President Atambayev was elected in a pluralistic ballot, we know that legislative elections are coming soon and we should do the utmost to carry on this process and to foster democracy in Kyrgyzstan," Hollande said.
He called for boosting bilateral contacts in the economy and other fields and announced his plans to visit Kyrgyzstan.
"Kyrgyzstan has few energy resources, it is situated far from us and it is not a rich country, but we still want to develop bilateral relations," the French president said.
Atambayev said he "had had a comprehensive exchange of opinions [with Hollande] on every topic, from humanitarian dimension to the economy."
"I am grateful for this kind of attitude to our small country, which is a key to Central Asia and a key [connecting] Central Asia and China. Our negotiations highlighted Kyrgyzstan's accession to the Eurasian Economic Union, and Mr. Hollande said that the republic would have a better chance to improve relations with the EU after its entry into the EEU," Atambayev said.
He also said he had been assured by the French president that "this meeting would bring our relations to a whole new level."