PRESS RELEASE | April 26, 2016
April 26: CENTCOM hosts Central Asian officers for Consultative Staff Talks

TAMPA, Fla. (April 26, 2016) – Improving interoperability is often touted by senior leaders as one of the benefits of bringing together a cross section of militaries.

Kazakhstan

On April 25-26, 2016, officers from U.S. Central Command and the Kazakhstani Ministry of Defense (MoD) held their annual Consultative Staff Talks (CST).The CST serves to review the progress of the current year’s joint military-to-military activities and to finalize the plan for next year’s activities. This year’s CST represents another successful step forward in deepening U.S.-Kazakhstani military cooperation to advance our mutual security and defense interests.The primary areas of cooperation are the continued professionalization of Kazakhstan’s MoD, with a focus on Non-commissioned officers (NCO), personnel and training management and military education.Colonel Adel Nurmashev, from the MoD’s Department of International Cooperation, represented Kazakhstan along with representatives from the Department of Military Education, Combat Training Department, NCO Directorate, and Special Operations Forces.

Tajikistan

On April 19-20, 2016, military officers from CENTCOM and the Republic of Tajikistan Ministry of Defense held the 2016 combined Tajikistan-U.S. consultative staff talks (CST).The talks are an annual event held in Tampa, Florida designed to review the security cooperation progress of the previous year’s military-to-military events and finalize the 2017 military-to-military planning between the two partners. Colonel AdbulkhoshimGulomzoda, Deputy Minister of Defense of the Republic of Tajikistan, served as the head of the Tajik delegation this year. In addition to furthering U.S. –Tajikistan military cooperation, this year’s CSTs occurred during Tajikistan’s 25th year of Independence.