Armed forces minister meets Central Asian & Mongolian counterparts

UK minister for the armed forces James Heappey has met with defence leaders and military chiefs in Central Asia and Mongolia.

Heappey visited Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Mongolia to meet with counterparts to discuss deepening security and defence cooperation.

In Kazakhstan, he met with officials including deputy foreign minister Roman Vassilenko, deputy defence minister Lieutenant General Sultan Burkutbayevich Kamaletdinov and members of the Committee on Foreign Affairs, Defence and Security of the Mazhilis of Parliament, to discuss future cooperation on peacekeeping missions.

Is Uzbekistan, he met with the minister of defence, Lieutenant General Bakhodir Kurbanov, as well as the commander of the National Guard, General Rustam Jo’rayev, and special representative of the President of Uzbekistan for Afghanistan Ismatulla Irgashev.

In Mongolia, he met with defence minister Gürsediin Saikhanbayar and discussed cooperation on peacekeeping missions.

Heappey said: "My visits this week form part of the approach outlined in the recent Defence Command Paper as we build our strategic international partnerships across Asia, in the interests of security and prosperity for everyone.

"I’ve held productive discussions with defence ministers and military leaders in Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Mongolia, laying the groundwork for future cooperation, especially on peacekeeping operations."

Image: Richard Townshend, CC BY 3.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0>, via Wikimedia Commons