The British Embassy Astana is a Contact Point Embassy for NATO in Kazakhstan in 2009

• The third Euro-Atlantic Partnership Council Security Forum, with the participation of high level representatives from NATO and Partner countries, took place in Kazakhstan, on 24-25 June 2009. The NATO Secretary General, Mr. Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, chaired the Forum in Astana, hosted by the Kazakh Government.
• An information day on NATO’s Science for Peace and Security (SPS) Programme was held on 24 June 2009 in Almaty at Al-Farabi University in Almaty. The Information Day focussed on the major SPS achievements in Kazakhstan and in the wider region. The objective of this event was to discuss priorities and challenges for Central Asia in the field of security and science.
• This event brought together high-level national authorities, academics, other experts, and students from Central Asia. The Central Asian country representatives to the SPS Committee also participated in this event to provide an overview of the benefits each country has received from the SPS Programme.
• In addition, project co-directors from NATO and partner nations demonstrated the added value of NATO’s SPS Programme to the scientific community, peace and stability in the region through its activities, including Virtual Silk Highway providing internet connectivity through National Research and Education Networks (NRENs) in Central Asia and Caucasus, including Afghanistan; destruction of the rocket fuel oxidizer Mélange in Uzbekistan.
• The NATO Parliamentary Assembly organized a Rose-Roth Seminar in Astana on June 26, at the same venue.

Foreign Secretary, David Miliband, commented on the importance of the NATO mission in Afghanistan during a speech at NATO headquarters on Monday 27 July.