U.S. Navy Secretary arrived in Kazakhstan

Kazakhstan Defense Minister Adilbek Dzhaksybekov met with the Secretary of the U.S. Navy Ray Mabus, Tengrinews.kz reports citing the press-service of Kazakhstan Defense Ministry. “Speaking of interaction in defense and security, the parties stressed the importance of the 5-year cooperation plan successfully used in peacemaking, personnel training, technical support and development of the military education system,” the Ministry’s message states. The Ministry notes that implementation of the current 5-year military cooperation plan ends this year and the representatives of the military authorities of both countries actively interact in preparation of the third draft Plan for the next 5-year period. This Plan is to be signed by the end of August. U.S. Embassy in Kazakhstan announced that a delegation of the U.S. Congress visited Kazakhstan recently. The delegation led by Dan Burton (Republican-Indiana) and Representative Gregory Meeks (Democrat-New York) visited Kazakhstan on July 1-3. The delegation met with the country’s management and the representatives of business and religious communities of Kazakhstan to discuss bilateral relations and regional issues. According to the Embassy, “Dan Burton represents the Fifth Congressional District of Indiana and serves as a senior member of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs and Chairman of the Subcommittee on Europe and Eurasia. His subcommittee oversees the key aspects of U.S. foreign policy in Central Asia. Representative Meeks is the subcommittee’s ranking Democratic Member.” As part of the Central Asian tour, the congressmen are also visiting Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan.