12 sept. 2005

NATO exercises with partners in the Adriatic Sea 12 September 2005 NATO’s maritime exercise COOPERATIVE ENGAGEMENT 05 (CE 05) will take place from 12 to 23 September 2005 in the Adriatic Sea and in Vlora, Albania. Approximately 1500 military personnel, over 20 ships and 4 helicopters from NATO, Partnership for Peace nations and Mediterranean Dialogue countries, including NATO standing formations will train together in Crisis Response Operations. NATO’s Standing NRF Maritime Group Two (formerly Standing Naval Force Mediterranean) and Mine Countermeasures Group Two (formerly Mine Countermeasures Force South) will participate in the exercise, together with additional forces from 6 NATO nations: France, Greece, Italy, Romania, Slovenia and Turkey and from four Partner nations: Albania, Azerbaijan, Croatia, Georgia. This year, for the first time, the Cooperative Engagement exercise is open for full participation of Mediterranean Dialogue countries, and Jordan and Morocco will send two officers. CE 05 is scheduled by the Joint Force Command NAPLES and will be conducted by the Headquarters Component Command Maritime Naples. CE 05 will practice the prevention of illegal passage and arm smuggling to a fictitious country in order to help re-establish order. The unique design of the procedures and communications used in this exercise serves to demonstrate NATO’s ability to fully integrate multinational Partner forces and allows an assessment of the progress of interoperability. While assuring the readiness of its own forces, NATO continues its priority of maintaining peace and stability through dialogue and co-operation, to include training with Partner nations. note for the editor: A Press Information Centre (PIC) will be established in Vlore, ALBANIA from 9 th to 23 rd September 2005. Media questions prior to the start of the exercise should be addressed to: Public Information Office, Capt. Marco RADICE NATO HQ Tirana – Chief PIO Tel/FAX: 00 35 068 202 90 72 E-mail: nhqt.pio@albnet.net media opportunities Interested journalists shall be accredited by bona fide media organizations (Press ID or accreditation letter). The PIC will register media representatives for specific events, and escort them during the media tours. Media opportunities will be open to all registered journalists. A daily updated list of events will be available at the PIC.