Central Eurasia Week in Review - July 11, 2014
Several Central Eurasian states held bilateral and multilateral meetings on security cooperation this week, while Russia pledged it would continue to train security forces of Central Eurasian states. Read these stories and other top news in the region below.
· Azerbaijani Foreign Minister stressed the importance of continued cooperation between Azerbaijan and NATO during a meeting with NATO’s Special Representative for the Caucasus and Central Asia. The two officials also discussed prospects for further development of the partnership between Azerbaijan and NATO at NATO’s upcoming summit this September.
· Russia announced it would continue to train security forces of the members of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS). The CIS includes Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan.
· Uzbekistan and Germany discussed counterterrorism and counternarcotic cooperation efforts.
· The Kazakh defense minister met with U.S. embassy official John Ordway to discuss current and future efforts for bilateral military cooperation.
·Representatives of the Azerbaijani Armed Forces will take part in naval exercises in Turkey later this month.
·The European Union launched a new project on the promotion of rule of law in Kyrgyzstan.
·The Foreign Ministry of Uzbekistan received U.S. Ambassador George Krol to discuss regional security issues.
·Azerbaijan launched large-scale military exercises on the border between Azerbaijan and the disputed territory of Nagorno-Karabakh.
·The Obama Administration announced its intent to nominate Robert Cekuta as the next U.S. ambassador to Azerbaijan.
·Kyrgyz police officials announced it broke up a large drug trafficking ring. This comes after the United Nations and Russia announced new efforts to aid Kyrgyzstan in countering illegal drug trafficking.
·A Georgian official stated that Georgia is not satisfied with NATO’s proposed package of enhanced cooperation.