NATO Military Committee in Chiefs of Defence Session

The meeting was chaired by Chairman of the NATO Military Committee General Petr Pavel, who was supported by Supreme Allied Commander Europe (SACEUR) General Curtis M. Scaparrotti and Supreme Allied Commander Transformation (SACT) General Denis Mercier. Also in attendance were several operational commanders from the theatres of NATO’s peace support operations.

In his opening remarks delivered at the event, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg emphasized the challenges ahead of the Alliance and outlined the agenda of the 2018 July NATO Summit. In what followed, during a strategic debate, the Chiefs of Defence discussed the further possibilities of military contribution to security and stabilization in Europe’s southern neighborhood, and the tasks related to the NATO Command Structure (NCS) adaptation.

In his contribution, General Dr. Tibor Benkő supported the proposed option and stated that Hungary is committed to the transformation of the Alliance, to the contribution to the costs and to the provision of required expert staff.

The strategic and operational commanders provided updates on the current state and future challenges of the NATO-led training and advisory mission Resolute Support in Afghanistan, the NATO Training and Capacity Building activity in Iraq (NTCB-I) and the possibilities of reconfiguring it as a mission. The recognition of the NTCB-I as a mission/operation would make the legislation easier for member and partner countries, and the future activities more plannable (NATO Defence Planning Process).

The second day started with a session with NATO’s designated partners, in which the Chiefs of Defence of partner countries provided information about the security challenges in their countries, the current state of the transformation of the armed forces and the possibilities of developing military cooperation with NATO. Afterwards they discussed the tasks related to the Military Coherence of the Alliance’s strategic documents.

On the margins of the meeting the Hungarian, Italian and Slovenian Chiefs of Defence signed a letter of intent on affiliation, in accordance with which the Multinational Land Force (MLF) – which was established in April 2000 – will be integrated into NRDC-ITA. Over the past years the MLF participated in several activities like the operations Joint Guardian and Joint Enterprise in Kosovo. During Exercise Clever Ferret held in the autumn of 2017, the MLF proved its readiness and operational capability in the Várpalota training area in Hungary.