A meeting of religious and political leaders last month in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, will help put religious freedom concerns on the public agenda, say organizers of the event. The two-day meeting took place against the background of increasing uneasiness among religious organizations over the government’s proposed law on religious freedom, which some groups believe does not go far enough in protecting freedom of conscience.

The conference, which began January 24, produced an agreement by participants to promote a “peaceful coexistence” between religious groups in Kyrgyzstan, reports Victor Krushenitsky, public affairs and religious liberty director for the Seventh-day Adventist Church in Euro-Asia. He says another significant outcome of the meeting was the commitment by Alisher Sabirov, chair of the parliament’s Religious Association Committee, to invite religious leaders to a roundtable discussion on the draft religion law. The discussion is set for February 10, three days before the third parliamentary hearing on the proposed legislation.

Following the meeting, more than 30 conference participants voted to establish a new Kyrgyzstan chapter of the International Religious Liberty Association. This non-sectarian organization, established by Adventist leaders in 1893, is dedicated to promoting and safeguarding religious civil rights around the world.

The central Asian country of Kyrgyzstan was a former Soviet state before gaining its independence in 1991. An estimated 80 percent of the country’s 4.7 million people practice Islam, and some 17 percent of the population belongs to the Russian Orthodox Church, the nation’s second largest religious group.