CONCORD, N.H. (AP) – A delegation of government and military leaders from Kazakhstan is in New Hampshire this week to learn how the state handles emergencies.

Delegation members also are getting a lesson in democracy with workshops covering everything from health and natural disaster planning to relations with the media.

“We have visited a number of departments in New Hampshire and the (Seabrook) nuclear plant and we learned how they would respond in an emergency,” said Gen. Maj. Dikhanbek Satylganov, the former Soviet republic’s chief of civil defense.

Speaking through an interpreter Thursday, the general said his country’s emergency plans are similar to New Hampshire’s, with some differences.

“For us, it was new to see how you monitor the emergency and respond appropriately and also to learn that the governor would be the commander in chief in case of emergency,” he said.

Former Ambassador George Bruno organized the visit through a program called Partners for Peace. The idea is to show how government, nonprofit organizations and the private sector cooperate in emergencies such as earthquakes or floods.

The delegation visited the Statehouse to watch the Legislature at work; was briefed on how communities, the state and the federal government responded to last fall’s floods; and exchanged information on plans to confront the avian flu.

Bruno said even though the topic was how to deal with emergencies and natural disasters, the New Hampshire hosts and members of the delegation also engaged in some diplomacy.

New Hampshire National Guard Adj. Gen. Kenneth Clark reached across a table Wednesday, Bruno said, and shook hands with Satylganov, who was a general in the former Soviet army, and noted their new relationship.

“He said, Isn’t it nice that one time we were enemies in the Cold War and now we can come to a meeting like this to talk about cooperating in times of emergency,”‘ Bruno said.

“This exchange,” Bruno said, “is building stronger democracies and building friendships.”