NATO launches English language training for Uzbek officers
A new English language training course for Uzbek officers will begin next week in Tashkent, Uzbekistan. Up to 15 competitively selected candidates will undergo the six-month pilot programme focusing on military terminology.
The NATO Liaison Officer in Central Asia, Mr Alexander Vinnikov and the Head of the Partnership for Peace Training Centre of Uzbekistan’s Ministry of Defence, Colonel Dusniyazov opened the programme during a ceremony in Tashkent on 24 July.
“This programme, based on the successful experience of a similar initiative launched by our office earlier this year in Kyrgyzstan, aims to raise Uzbek officers' level of military English with a view to increasing the country’s participation in NATO Partnership Cooperation Menu and other international military cooperation events,” said Mr Vinnikov.
Officials of the British Council in Uzbekistan – the project’s implementing partner – briefed the participants on the content of the language programme. The Defence Attaché of the British Embassy in Tashkent, Squadron Leader Andrew Stefford and Deputy Defence Attaché MSG Renato Caputo of the Embassy of Italy, NATO’s Contact Point Embassy in Uzbekistan, also participated. The opening ceremony was covered by local media.
Colonel Dusniyazov thanked the Alliance for its support and emphasised that, “this project will serve to strengthen cooperation between Uzbekistan and NATO”.