Marshall Center Travels to Uzbekistan for Two-Day Security Dialogue
By James Brooks
Public Affairs Office
George C. Marshall European Center for Security Studies
TASHKENT, Uzbekistan (Aug. 19, 2016) - An international faculty team from the George C. Marshall European Center for Security Studies traveled to Tashkent, Uzbekistan for a two-day dialogue with more than 50 government representatives, Aug. 18-19.
The two-day dialogue is a continuation of discussions designed to improve U.S. Department of Defense regional center interaction with Uzbek analysts, policy practitioners and academics. The first Security Dialogue session took place on May 27, 2014 when faculty from the Marshall Center and the Washington, D.C. –based Near East--South Asia Center for Security Studies traveled to Tashkent to explore how U.S. DoD regional centers’ curriculum could benefit Uzbek security sector institutions. The group returned in June 2015 where strategic cooperation was explored. Earlier this year, the security centers provided a third conference examining cyber-security.
For the first time in four visits, the delegation was led by a DOD regional center director, Marshall Center Director Retired Army Lt. Gen. Keith Dayton. He was joined by Marshall Center faculty Sven Gareis, Gregory Gleason, Petra Weyland, and Sam Mullins. Faculty shared their perspectives and moderated discussions exploring transnational challenges facing Uzbekistan with a focus on migration, terrorism and the impact of war in neighboring Afghanistan.
On the first day of the conference, U.S. Ambassador to Uzbekistan Pamela Spratlen; Director of the Institute of Strategic Studies Aziz Rusalov and Head, Department of International Cooperation, Uzbekistan Ministry of Foreign Affairs Kadambay Sultanov spoke to the participants highlighting the special role that Uzbekistan has in Central Asia and the timeliness of this event shortly before the 25th anniversary of Uzbekistan's independence.
The Uzbekistan Security Dialogue is one of more than 120 non-resident outreach events organized by the Marshall Center each year. Through a strong partnership between the United States and Germany, the Marshall Center is able to organize seminars like this to have meaningful discussions with senior government officials for positive security policy outcomes.