NATO Liaison Officer for Central Asia visits Kazakhstan
On 26 January, the NATO Liaison Officer for Central Asia, Rosaria Puglisi, visited the Al-Farabi University in Almaty. For ten years, the university has hosted a NATO information centre which provides support to both undergraduate and post-graduate students of international relations and regional studies.
“NATO partnership in Central Asia is not a zero-sum game,” Ms Puglisi told students. Referring to Kazakhstan and its neighbours’ membership of regional security organisations, she added, “NATO has offers on the table that can help Central Asian partners modernise and make more accountable their armed forces. More modern and more accountable armed forces are better able to defend their country’s sovereignty and territorial integrity”.
On 19 and 20 January, Ms Puglisi met representatives from the Kazakh Ministries of Foreign Affairs and Defence in Astana. They discussed ways to enhance current cooperation between NATO and Kazakhstan.
Kazakh armed forces have been conducting the Steppe Eagle military exercises since 2006, under the NATO Partnership for Peace Programme.