Kyrgyzstan began developing cooperation with the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), along with other Central Asian states, in 1992 after joining the North Atlantic Cooperation Council (NACC), which was established by the alliance in December 1991 as a forum to discuss and coordinate security issues with its emerging partners. Bishkek’s practical cooperation with NATO started in June 1994 when Kyrgyzstan signed a framework document of the Partnership for Peace (PfP) program launched in January 1994 to boost interaction between NATO and non-member states in the Euro-Atlantic area.
Dauren Aben holds a Master’s in International Relations from Kainar University, Almaty, Kazakhstan, and a Master’s in International Policy Studies and certificates in nonproliferation studies, conflict resolution, and commercial diplomacy from the California-based Monterey Institute of International Studies. Dauren previously worked as a senior project manager and researcher at the Nazarbayev University Graduate School of Education. In 2011-2014, he worked as a senior research fellow at the Kazakhstan Institute for Strategic Studies under the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan. In 2008-20