Kyrgyz Foreign Ministry on US visa restrictions: sensitive damage to bilateral relations

Bishkek, Feb. 1, 2020 / Kabar /. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Kyrgyzstan issued a statement in connection with the decision of the American side on the introduction of entry restrictions for citizens of the Kyrgyz Republic.

According to the press service of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Kyrgyz Republic, the statement said:

“The Kyrgyz Ministry of Foreign Affairs regrets the decision made by the US Administration that affects the interests of Kyrgyz citizens. We believe that in this way, Kyrgyz-American relations have suffered sensitive damage.

The American side is well aware that the introduction of biometric travel documents in the country was planned at an earlier date, however, due to objective circumstances, it took a long period of time. At the same time, the Kyrgyz side, based solely on goodwill, took the necessary measures to exchange relevant information with the United States under the laws of Kyrgyzstan.

The Kyrgyz Republic is an active participant in international security processes, and has made and is making a special contribution to the fight against terrorism.

At the same time, out of more than 80 countries in which biometric passports have not yet been introduced, visa restrictions were introduced only a few states selectively. This does not fit into the understanding of partnership support for parliamentary democracy, which is successfully developing in the Kyrgyz Republic.

The Government of the Kyrgyz Republic has worked and will continue to work to increase the level of digitalization in the country as an effective mechanism to combat bureaucracy and corruption. One of the important aspects of this work is to increase the degree of security of national travel documents.

In view of the foregoing, we consider the measure undertaken by the American side to be inconsistent with the parties' desire to intensify bilateral cooperation.

At the same time, the Kyrgyz Republic is open to joint work on building constructive and mutually beneficial Kyrgyz-American relations. ”