CENTRAL ASIAN UNION DEVELOPS SECURITY STRUCTURES

. Meeting in Almaty, the chiefs of staff of the armed forces of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Uzbekistan have finalized draft documents on creating a Committee of the Chiefs of Staff of the three countries, a plan for military cooperation that includes joint exercises of their national forces, and a CentrasBat training program for 1997. That joint battalion, to be placed at UN disposal for international peacekeeping operations, will train within the framework of NATO’s Partnership for Peace program. The official agreements are to be signed next month at a meeting of the Council of the Defense Ministers of the three countries. (Interfax, Xinhua, January 24)

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