Kazakhstan Joins NATO ‘Planning and Review Process’ Discussions

    By Aiman Turebekova
    At NATO headquarters in Brussels, representatives from the Kazakh Defense Ministry headed by Deputy Minister, Major-General Talgat Mukhtarov recently discussed with 28 member countries the implementation of the goals under the Planning and Review Process (PRP) program, a news release from the ministry reports.
    The main goal of the program is training and assessing the peacekeeping units of the Kazakh Armed Forces.
    The country views its strategic partnership with NATO as an opportunity to integrate into international security systems to reinforce national security by making use of the enormous military, technical, and economic potential that this organisation and its members possess.
    Since 1994, the Republic of Kazakhstan has been a participant in NATO’s program of PRP.
    At the session on May 28, participants pointed a high level of cooperation and expressed support for the further development of Kazakhstan’s Training Center Partnership for Peace and the Steppe Eagle peacekeeping exercises that are held annually with participation of the Kazakh Armed Forces and military units of NATO countries since 2003. In 2014, for the first time, the training was held outside of Kazakhstan, in Germany.
    The parties have been planning to provide joint trainings in Britain as part of the Steppe Eagle drills, the Astana Times reports.