Press Releases

U.S. Department of Defense Donates over $60,000 in English Language Books to Ministry of Defense (March 18, 2005)

The U.S. Embassy’s Office of Defense Cooperation (ODC) provided $63,000 worth of English-language training books and portable language labs to the Albanian Ministry of Defense this month. The books and labs will help the Albanian Armed Forces reach standard NATO language levels in English, a key requirement for future NATO membership.

The materials were funded through the ODC’s International Military Education and Training (IMET) Program. IMET is a Department of Defense grant-based program providing security assistance-related training in the United States and in foreign countries. Under this program, 52 Albanian military and civilian personnel were trained in the U.S. and over 100 in Albania during 2004 in various courses ranging from technical specialties to national security strategy development. Total U.S. grant IMET funding for 2004 was over $1 million. At least 90 Albanian armed forces personnel are currently being trained in English at a number of sites throughout the country with the support of the US and other NATO allies.

The books are part of the American Language Course curriculum produced by the Defense Language Institute in San Antonio, Texas and are widely used in military training programs throughout the world.