NATO’s Military Committee (MC) concluded a two-day Conference in Vysoke Tatry yesterday, focussing on NATO operations, NATO Reforms and the New Strategic Concept (NSC). The conference was hosted by the Slovak military authorities.

Gathering the Chiefs of Defence of the 28 NATO’s Members States, the MC Conference was chaired by Admiral Giampaolo Di Paola. NATO’s two Strategic Commanders, Admiral James Stavridis (Supreme Allied Commander Europe, Operations - SACEUR) and General Stéphane Abrial (Supreme Allied Commander, Transformation – SACT) also attended the meetings, while General David Petraeus, ISAF Commander, participated via video-teleconference.

The meeting was opened by the Slovak Prime Minister, H.E. Iveta Radičová. In her remarks, the Prime Minister underlined the important role of the armed forces, in a period of new emerging security challenges, and the relevance of the tasks they are called to accomplish. Mrs. Radicova stressed also the importance of the NSC, expected to be approved by Heads of State at the Lisbon Summit, as the reference document for developing the role and the approach of the Alliance in the next decade.

Admiral Stavridis and General Petraeus opened the session with a briefing on the evolving situation in Afghanistan. The main topics were transition and training. As for transition, the criteria for its implementation were analyzed. On training, the encouraging progress made by Afghan National Security Forces (ANSF) towards achieving the standards required to allow sustainable transition was noted. In this respect, Chairman of the Military Committee called for an additional effort by nations to provide trainers for ANSF, a key strategic factor for making transition real.

Noting SACEUR’s positive report on the overall security situation in Kosovo, CHODs confirmed their commitment to the Operation, and looked forward to a timely recommendation from SACEUR to move to the next step (Gate 2) of Deterrence Presence, to be submitted to the North Atlantic Council.
The second day started with a discussion on the possible implications that the New Strategic Concept might have on the military aspects of the Alliance.

Connected to the NSC, the ongoing work at NATO Headquarter in Brussels on the NATO Command Structure’s review was thoroughly analyzed, along with the critical capabilities required to ensure operational effectiveness in a resource constrained context. The outcome of the discussion on this topic will be brought to the attention of the North Atlantic Council in preparation for the NATO Ministerial Meeting, to be held in Brussels mid October.