Kyrgyzstan Debate
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Lord Dykes
Main Page: Lord Dykes (Crossbench - Life peer)Department Debates - View all Lord Dykes's debates with the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office
(13 years, 5 months ago)
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Lord Howell of Guildford
That is a very positive idea. I will check with both those organisations to see what involvement they have. My half-memory is that they already have some involvement with promoting the beginnings and the embryo of parliamentary improvement and government in that country and associated countries. I will certainly approach them and check it out.
Lord Dykes
Can my noble friend say what the situation is with the freedom of the press in Kyrgyzstan at the moment?
Lord Howell of Guildford
I cannot say precisely, but there are questions about how much and whether proper freedom is being observed. There have been some criticisms. These are the sort of issues that we monitor very closely. We are not at all reticent or backward in pointing out the vital need for greater freedom of the press if democracy is to develop there.