The 19th Cooperation Council between the EU and Kyrgyzstan was held in Brussels on Tuesday 15 November. Czech Foreign Minister Jan Lipavský met with his Kyrgyz counterpart, Zheenbek Kulubaev. They had a “frank and detailed discussion on human rights and good governance issues” according to a report of the meeting.
“The EU expressed concern about the overall negative trend on fundamental human rights, notably as regards a shrinking space for civil society to operate freely and increasing pressure on freedom of speech”.
They also discussed subjects such as the Rule of law, media freedom and progress in the judiciary.
Furthermore, the two ministers discussed regional cooperation and the possibilities of increasing it. This echoes the visit of the President of the European Council, Charles Michel, to Astana at the end of October, where he met with the Heads of State or representatives of the five Central Asian countries (Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan).
Finally, the violent clashes that took place on the Kyrgyz-Tajik border in September were also discussed (see EUROPE 13024/17): the EU requested information about the resolution of these tensions and reiterated its proposal to address the causes of this bilateral conflict. (Original version in French by Léa Marchal)