Kyrgyz officers graduate from NATO-supported courses
The NATO Liaison Officer for Central Asia, Rosaria Puglisi, and the Deputy Chairman of the Kyrgyz Republic State Committee of Defence, Colonel Adylbek Kurbanov, attended the graduation ceremony of the first NATO-funded English language course for serving military personnel in the country on 27 April 2016. Inaugurated in February 2015, the pilot project was supported by the State Committee of Defence and conducted by the Center for Continuing Education of the American University in Central Asia (AUCA).
“Learning English means acquiring an instrument to attend seminars and training courses abroad and thus to improve your professional capacity,” the NATO Liaison Officer told graduating students. Within the framework of the Partnership Cooperation Menu, NATO offers more than 1,400 training opportunities to partner countries, including the five countries of Central Asia. Participants from Kyrgyzstan are entitled to 100% financial support.
On 26 April, the NATO Liaison Officer also participated in one of several graduation ceremonies of the NATO-Kyrgyzstan Resettlement Programme. Since 2010, the project has provided retraining opportunities to approximately 900 former military personnel in different regions of Kyrgyzstan. Equipped with English, IT and business skills, retired military have seen their chances to find a civilian job increase. “I have been brought up for most of my Soviet military career thinking that NATO was the enemy. Who would have thought that one day I would have to thank the Alliance for helping me to get back to work,” said one of the retired officers who attended an IT course in the town of Tokmok.
Additional links:
https://auca.kg/ru/auca_news/2441/
http://zanoza.kg/doc/337681_pervyy_vypysk_voennoslyjashih_okonchivshih_kyrs_angliyskogo_iazyka_pri_ayca.htm
http://www.tazabek.kg/news:745807