NATO/IMS: News: NATO’s Military Committee met in Chiefs of Staff Session at NATO HQ as part of their routine twice-yearly high-level consultation process 11-12 May 2005

11-12 May 2005

NATO’s Military Committee met in Chiefs of Staff Session at NATO HQ as part of their routine twice-yearly high-level consultation process

11 May - 12 May 2005

with NATO member nations ( 152 nd Meeting of the MC/CS)
with NATO’s Partners ( 16 TH EURO-ATLANTIC PARTNERSHIP MC/CS)
with Ukraine ( 16 th Meeting of the MC/CS with UKRAINE)
with Russia ( 6 TH MEETING OF THE NATO-RUSSIA COUNCIL- MR/CS)
with the 2nd Seven Mediterranean Dialogue countries (MC/CS with 7MD countries)

Multimedia
	High resolution photos
	12/05/2005 - NATO Audio file of the press point by General Harald Kujat (MP3/13510kb)

As well as meeting in their usual format, the Committee also met for the second time with the Chiefs of Defence of the Seven Mediterranean Dialogue countries. The first meeting took place last November 2004 and resulted in a second invitation to return to NATO HQ to participate in the Spring Chiefs of Defence meeting. From now on, this session will become a regular feature, providing an extremely useful forum for discussion and exchange of information. Discussions centred on how to strengthen military cooperation between NATO and Mediterranean Dialogue nations. Some NATO nations offered to host further staff talks on this issue, including participation in NATO exercises. Discussions also focussed on the military aspects of combating terrorism. Participants were briefed on the outcome of a Terrorism Experts Conference held in Brussels in January 2005 . It was agreed to continue to hold regular symposiums of terrorism experts. General discussion ensued on the most effective way of sharing intelligence and the best mechanisms to implement this.

All sessions were briefed fully on the status and way ahead for NATO’s operations in the Balkans, Afghanistan, the training mission in Iraq and NATO’s maritime anti-terrorist Operation ACTIVE ENDEAVOUR. ACTIVE ENDEAVOUR is open to further participation from Partner nations and Mediterranean Dialogue nations. At the moment Russia are preparing for at-sea training of naval units that will be dedicated to supporting this operation in the Mediterranean. It is hoped that they will be ready to participate by early 2006. At the same time, discussions are also ongoing with Ukraine to determine their contribution to this operation, and preliminary talks are also underway with Algeria and Israel.

With regard to ISAF , discussions with NATO’s nations centred on the steady progression of expansion into Phase 3 and eventually Phase 4. The logical consequence of this progression will be the necessity for new Command arrangements between ISAF and the US operation Enduring Freedom. Military advice on the issue of synergy between the two operations and implementation practicalities was agreed and will now be passed to the North Atlantic Council for the Defence Ministers meeting in June 2005.

In IRAQ , between January and March 2005, there were more than 500 in-country training sessions given to Iraqi personnel, and some 100 Iraqi personnel have been trained at out-of-country NATO facilities and returned to Iraq. In April 05, more than 900 in-country training sessions were given. A training, Education and Doctrine Centre will be established at Ar Rustamiyah in the Eastern vicinity of Bagdad, in September 2005 and that is where the next Staff Officer Courses will be conducted. At the moment we are conducting “Train the Trainer” courses in the International Zone inside the NTM-I HQ. These will continue through July 05. There is also scope for integrating Iraqi officers into certain Partnership exercises.

Ukraine updated the Chiefs of Defence on the MC+Ukraine Work Plan for 2005 and received guidance on the way ahead for their 2006 Work Plan with an enhanced schedule of cooperative activities. Work is progressing steadily and successfully on the reform of Ukraine’s armed forces, which aims at mirroring the force structures of NATO member nations, enabling a more effective interoperability.

Partner nations were again congratulated on their significant contribution to NATO operations by many of them. There was wide discussion on a variety of issues, and especially with regard to the benefits of the Operational Capabilities Concept Evaluation and Feedback.

There was considerable progress on the subject of Theatre Missile Defence Command Post Exercises with an offer by the Netherlands to host the first joint NATO-Russian live exercise in 2007. Work continues on a detailed study of how to make NATO and Russian systems more interoperable. Over the past three years this is an area where NATO-Russia cooperation has seen the greatest achievements.

On behalf of the EAPC Representatives, the Swiss Chief of Defence, Lieutenant General Keckeis thanked General Kujat for his outstanding work as Chairman of NATO’s Military Committee over the past three years and wished him well for the future. General Harald Kujat will leave the position in mid-June 2005.