ANOTHER NATO DELEGATION IN TURKMENISTAN.

A senior-level military delegation from NATO headquarters conferred yesterday in Ashgabat with Turkmenistan’s foreign and defense ministers, Boris Shikhmuradov and Danatar Kopekov, on the country’s participation in the NATO Partnership for Peace program. Both civilian and military aspects of cooperation were discussed, as was the current situation in Central Asia. Kopekov stressed the importance of teaching English to Turkmen officers in order to enable them to pursue advanced training also in Turkey and Pakistan. (Interfax, April 15) On a Central Asian tour last week, U.S. ambassador to NATO Robert Hunter conferred with Turkmen leaders on accelerating the preparation of the country’s presentation document on cooperation with NATO in the Partnership for Peace framework.

UN Replacing its Mediator in Tajikistan.