Officials from nine countries, including the United States, will meet in Garmisch-Partenkirchen (Germany) on 11January for the first in a series of conferences designed to increase security cooperation among states in the Central and South Asia region.

US Army Lt. Gen. David Barno, commander of Combined Forces Command Afghanistan, will make opening and closing remarks.

Officials said the Central and South Asian States Regional Security Conference supports the strategic regional goals of the US Central Command and the German Ministry of Defense. Participants will address countering transnational threats such as terrorism, the illegal narcotics trade and border security issues.

The George C. Marshall European Centre for Security Studies here is organizing and hosting the conference. More than 80 participants are invited to attend, including ministerial-level representatives and high-ranking ministry staff members from Afghanistan, Germany, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, the United States and Uzbekistan.

The Marshall Centre is a US Defense Department and German Defense Ministry educational institution. More than 3,200 military and civilian officials from 51 nations have graduated from resident courses, and more than 12,300 have attended nearly 200 conferences discussing European and Central Asian security issues since the center was dedicated in 1993.