OSCE Chairman in Office and Slovenian Foreign Minister Dimitrij Rupel met with Kyrgyz acting President Kurmanbek Bakiev in Bishkek on 18 April, RFE/RL\'s Kyrgyz Service reported. The two discussed a joint OSCE-Kyrgyz plan to maintain stability in Kyrgyzstan, the OSCE reported in a press release on 18 April. The press release quoted Rupel as saying, \"The workplan we have developed together with the Kyrgyz authorities focuses on such short-term priority areas as maintaining law and order, election assistance, media freedom, and business development. In the longer-term, we aim to concentrate on the rule of law, education, borders, and cross-border cooperation, as well as economic development.\" Addressing the issue of upcoming 10 July presidential elections, Rupel said, \"I am confident that Kyrgyzstan will hold fair and transparent elections, and that the OSCE will further this process.\" But Omurbek Tekebaev, the speaker of Kyrgyzstan\'s parliament, sounded a different note during his meeting with Rupel, commenting, \"We fear that the presidential elections will be extremely uneasy and the source of significant unpleasantness.\" (RFE/RL)