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[Presenter] As we have reported, Prince [Karim] Aga Khan IV is currently paying an official visit to Bishkek. Today he met Kyrgyz President Askar Akayev. Following that meeting, he held another one at the Kyrgyz parliament's Legislative Assembly [upper house]. Our correspondent, Inga Sikorskaya, reports.
[Sikorskaya] Having welcomed the high-ranking guest, Abdygany Erkebayev [the speaker of the Legislative Assembly] said that it had given him great pleasure to him to meet His Highness [the Aga Khan] a second time. Your organization's activities are well-known to us. We remember especially the fact that you have given assistance to residents of the Mountainous Badakhshon Region, among whom there are our compatriots, in a difficult time, Erkebayev said.

[Passage omitted: Erkebayev praised the Aga Khan Foundation's activities to expand relations with Kyrgyzstan and to set up a branch of the University of Central Asia in Kyrgyzstan]

During the conversation, His Highness Prince Aga Khan IV said that he had planned his visit to Kyrgyzstan to last for many days, but the terrorist acts in the USA had caused alterations in the plan and he had to cut short the visit. The sad events are of great significance for Central Asia, and the situation which is currently emerging in Afghanistan will also have an impact on Kyrgyzstan, the Aga Khan said. He voiced the hope that partnership relations and the [Aga Khan] Foundation's assistance would be able to protect the Kyrgyz Republic from adverse consequences. By that, His Highness Prince Aga Khan meant, in the first place, spiritual development, on which the main attention has been focused in educational programmes carried out with his support.

[Aga Khan says something indistinct; not clear what language he is speaking]

[Correspondent] The Aga Khan said that a cooperation accord which was signed between him and Kyrgyz President Askar Akayev today would promote the further development of the Kyrgyz people. The document is aimed at carrying out programmes in the fields of education, the health service, agriculture, tourism, culture and finance. Although resources have not been established yet, it has already become common knowledge that 2m dollars will be invested in the setting up of a special school in Osh [southern Kyrgyz town].

Source: Kyrgyz Radio first programme, Bishkek, in Russian 1100 gmt 25 Sep 01 /BBC Monitoring/ ? BBC.

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