Kyrgyzstan can modernize its army with SCO, CSTO support: Otunbayeva

Kyrgyzstan can modernize its army with SCO, CSTO support: Otunbayeva
Kyrgyzstan could modernize its national army with the military and technical help of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) and the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), interim President Roza Otunbayeva said Friday.

Between 2010 and 2011, the republic's Defense Ministry received 25 million U.S. dollars in aid from the SCO and the CSTO, she said at an annual stocktaking meeting of senior Kyrgyz defense officials.

"With this military-technical help you can respond to modern challenges with dignity," Otunbayeva said.

The country's armed forces also needed to address the problem of ethnic integration, the interim president said, adding all ethnic groups in the country could and must serve in the armed forces.

Kyrgyzstan, a Central Asian nation that hosts both U.S. and Russian air bases, has been unsettled by political instability and violence since the April 2010 overthrow of then president Kurmanbek Bakiyev.

Editor: Bi Mingxin

English.news.cn   2011-11-18 18:55:40 FeedbackPrintRSS
BISHKEK, Nov. 18 (Xinhua)