BISHKEK. Kyrgyz President Askar Akayev today met with the residents of the remote Batken region to discuss the agenda of the forthcoming referendum set for February 2, 2003. During the meeting Akayev said that about 11,000 proposals were made on the draft version of the Constitution. There were proposals from Batken residents too. He praised the draft, rejecting accusations by the Kyrgyz opposition of his attempt to strengthen his authoritarian rule. President appealed to the Batken residents to support the government-backed version. Akayev's book on the ten years of Kyrgyz independence was distributed among the meeting participants.