Ambassador’s Speech at the Signing of Amended Letter of Agreement with the Director of Law Enforcement Bodies of the Kyrgyz Republic

6 June 2012 – 11:00 AM

General Musayev, Minister Rysaliyev, distinguished guests – ladies and gentlemen.  It is my pleasure to meet with you here today to sign this Letter of Agreement with the Government of the Kyrgyz Republic. 

This Letter of Agreement will allow the United States to deliver another 4.6 million dollars in assistance to your law enforcement organizations. 

The 4.6 million dollars that we are promising to deliver with this ceremony today is in addition to our past assistance.  Since 2004, the United States State Department Bureau for International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs (INL) has delivered over 20 Million dollars in law enforcement assistance to the people of the Kyrgyz Republic.  We have: 

• Refurbished the cafeteria, gymnasium, library, dormitory, conference room, reviewing field tribune and the forensics training room of the MVD Secondary Police School

• Refurbished several offices of the National Traffic Police Headquarters and Bishkek City Traffic Police Headquarters

• Delivered trainings by experts in traffic crash investigations, auto theft, major traffic crimes and prosecutions to MVD officers

• Donated 49 uniform patrol vehicles and almost 1000 portable radios to the MVD

• Donated three ambulances and associated emergency medical equipment to the MVD Medical Department

• Trained over 1000 MVD officers in Public Order Management and fully equipped 500 public order police and there will be another 500 sets of equipment that will arrive soon

• Upgraded the MVD forensics laboratory and provided you with a state of the art fingerprint system and database implemented by our Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)

We are also working with the Ministry of Justice Forensics Center to assist in the modernization and professionalization of its facility, equipment and personnel.

And we are now partnered with the Russian Federation and the Republic of Kazakhstan in a three year project focused on strengthening the Kyrgyz State Service on Drug Control.

These efforts get us closer to what we would call police “readiness,” and we are proud of the close partnership we have developed with you over the past several years.  That said, we cannot afford to celebrate readiness without further progress on reform.  Reform in the areas of rule of law and equal treatment for all Kyrgyz citizens is absolutely essential to the establishment of a genuine and lasting stability, which the Kyrgyz people clearly long for.

Law enforcement bodies in any democratic country play some of the most important roles in the overall security of its citizens.  They are also responsible for the fair application of the law and safeguarding the human rights of all people within its borders. 

The Kyrgyz Republic and the United States have a long history of close cooperation in the area of security and law enforcement and this agreement today is another indication of our dedication to helping you strengthen your ability to deliver professional, fair and impartial police services to the citizens of your country.

We intend for this assistance to focus on “real” police reform and we hope this will help strengthen the foundation for a better, safer society that we have already helped you begin to build.