CGS of 63 countries gather in Brussels for consultations
BRUSSELS. January 26. KAZINFORM. The Chiefs of the General Staff (CGS) of 63 countries gather in the Belgian capital for two-day consultations that begin on Tuesday within the scope of an annual session of the NATO Military Committee; Kazinform refers to Itar-Tass.
Apart from Military Committee members proper -- the CGS of 28 member-countries, 35 their counterparts from Partner States and countries that had sent troops for participation in Alliance operations -- also arrive in Brussels.
One of the main subjects of discussions will be an analysis of operations, with attention, naturally, being focused on the military component of the operation in Afghanistan. With this end in view, a separate round of consultations in a special format will be held here with the participation of representatives of Afghanistan and Pakistan, apart from NATO countries that are not part of the alliance of states participating in the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan.
Within the framework of this set of activities, a session of the Russia-NATO Council, the first one since the conflict in the Caucasus, will be also held in Brussels at the level of CGS. On the Russian side the session will be attended by Chief of the General Staff Nikolai Makarov. The sides are to coordinate this year's 30-event plan for military-to-military cooperation, and share their vision of the entire spectrum of bilateral relations in the military sphere; Kazinform cites Itar-Tass. See www.itar-tass.com for full version.