Chiefs of Defence Conclude NATO Meeting in Brussels

Chiefs of defence conclude nato meeting in brussels 1
Photo courtesy NATO: Colonel General Hryhorii Pedchenko (Chief of Defence, Ukraine) meets NATO Chairman of the Military Committee, Admiral Giampaolo Di Paola.

Sixty-six NATO member and partner countries have concluded two days of meetings at NATO Headquarters. Chiefs of Defence and military representatives held a series of meetings chaired by Admiral Giampaolo Di Paola.

The areas covered include; Afghanistan, Kosovo, Ocean Shield, Active Endeavour, Mediterranean Dialogue, the Euro-Atlantic Partnership Council, Ukraine, NATO Transformation and the NATO-Russia Council.

Ambassador Mark Sedwill and the ISAF Commander, General David Petraeus, addressed the Afghanistan session. The provision of trainers for the Afghan National Security Forces has been prioritised.

The Commander of KFOR, General Erhard Buehler and the head of EULEX, Mr. Xavier Bout de Marnhac addressed the session on Kosovo. Corruption and organized crime were recognized as the greatest threats to long-term stability in the region.

At the session regarding the NATO-Russia Council, 29 Chief Heads of Defence approved an expanded Military Work Plan for 2011. NATO described the plan as “ambitious” and “far-reaching”. An exchange of military academics has already taken place with a view to sharing information on mutual strategic security issues.  Theatre missile defence is also a new area of cooperation.

The NRC has also approved the “NATO-Russia Council Consolidated Glossary of Cooperation” containing over 6000 terms and key areas of NATO-Russia political and military cooperation. Army General Nikolay Makarov and Adm. Giampaolo Di Paola will edit the glossary together. NATO and Russia have agreed a framework to co-operate on logistics, counter terrorism, search & rescue at sea and counter piracy.


In This Story: Afghanistan

Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country at the crossroads of Central and South Asia. Afghanistan is bordered by Pakistan to the east and south; Iran to the west; Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, and Tajikistan to the north; and China to the northeast.

Occupying 652,000 square kilometers (252,000 sq mi), it is a mountainous country with plains in the north and southwest. Kabul is the capital and largest city. The population is around 32 million, composed mostly of ethnic Pashtuns, Tajiks, Hazaras, and Uzbeks.

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Kosovo, officially the Republic of Kosovo, is a partially-recognised state and disputed territory in Southeastern Europe. On 17 February 2008, Kosovo unilaterally declared its independence from Serbia. It has since gained diplomatic recognition as a sovereign state by 98 UN member states.

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Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country located in Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east, and from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea in the south.

Russia spans more than one-eighth of the Earth’s inhabited land area, stretching eleven time zones, and bordering 16 sovereign nations. Moscow is the country’s capital.

The Soviet Union was dissolved in 1991 and since 1993 Russia been governed as a federal semi-presidential republic. Russia is a major great power, with the world’s second-most powerful military, and the fourth-highest military expenditure. As a recognised nuclear-weapon state, the country possesses the world’s largest stockpile of nuclear weapons.

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