Interior Ministry reports decline in asylum applications

The Interior Ministry says 594 people applied for political asylum in the Czech Republic in the first four months of 2007, compared to 978 in the same period last year and 2,731 in 2004. Most of the asylum seekers this year have come from Ukraine, Vietnam, Mongolia and Georgia. The Czech authorities have granted asylum to 81 foreigners this year. Since July 1990, 3,166 out of nearly 85,000 applicants have been granted asylum and 764 of them have received Czech citizenship.