U.S. Ambassador Lee Litzenberger joined Lieutenant General Haydar Piriyev to celebrate the graduation of military officers from an English language training course.
The MoD’s English language training program includes an intensive four-month course taught by American instructors from the U.S. Defense Language Institute English Language Center, funded by the U.S. State Department’s Foreign Military Financing program. The Defense Language Institute English Language Center is a U.S. Department of Defense activity that provides adult English language education to military partners around the world.
Ambassador Litzenberger remarked during the ceremony that English language training is the first step towards other opportunities for the graduating officers, including attending professional military education courses in the U.S. Ambassador Litzenberger said, “We hope that by providing English language training and professional military education courses that we will continue to develop long-lasting ties of friendship with our Azerbaijani partners.”
Lieutenant General Haydar Piriyev said “Both the U.S. and the local instructors did their best to make the course successful. I believe that the graduates will honorably represent our country in the international arena. I would like to thank the instructors for their great contribution into these courses and the U.S. Embassy for the assistance in organizing English language training for the military personal. This program will further strengthen the friendship between our nations.”
The Azerbaijan MoD and U.S. government have cooperated to develop the Azerbaijan MoD’s foreign language and partnership center and its English language program for 17 years. The training provided by this year’s English language instructor team complements previous investments from the U.S. government in English language training and testing materials for the Azerbaijan MoD, in addition to training Azerbaijani language instructors in the United States and donating English language computer labs to MoD’s educational facilities