11:07, 22 April 2009 | GMT +5
Kazakh Vice Defense Minister met with Director of French Joint Defense College
ASTANA. April 22. KAZINFORM. Deputy Minister of Defense of Kazakhstan Lieutenant General Bulat Sembinov has met with Director of French Joint Defense College General Vincent Desportes in the Defense Ministry of Kazakhstan; Kazinform refers to the Ministry?s press service.

The parties discussed the issues of cooperation between the defense ministries of the two states and determined prospects of collaboration.
Representatives of Belgium, Brazil, Britain, Hungary, Germany, Greece, Spain, China, the USA, France, South Korea, Japan and many other countries attended the meeting.
B. Sembinov informed the guests of the significant transformations in Kazakhstan?s Armed Forces. He noted that since the establishment of diplomatic relations in 1992 the Kazakh-French political dialog developed dynamically. Kazakhstan and France reached a high level of mutual understanding. They have common approaches to the most important issues of modern world. France fully supports Kazakhstan?s international initiatives including the OSCE chairmanship and CICA convocation.
The two countries dynamically develop cooperation in military sphere as well. Since 2004 26 Kazakh servicemen have been trained in France. Kazakh-French working group annually hold joint sessions, where the defense ministries define directions of bilateral relations.
In December 2008 the Kazakh-French working group in the military sphere held its regular 7th session in Paris. The sides summed up the results of implementation of the Plan for Bilateral Military Cooperation for 2008 and signed analogous document for 2009. They also discussed a draft agreement between the governments of Kazakhstan and France on cooperation in the field of defense.
The working group plans to hold its next session in Kazakhstan in 2009.