Steering Committee Appointed Hellenic Republic Officer as CMDR COE Deputy Director
Date: (26-10-2016)
The Crisis Management and Disaster Response Centre of Excellence (CMDR COE) successfully conducted its Steering Committee Meeting for the fourth year.
The annual session was held on 25-26 October, 2016 in Sofia, Bulgaria with the participation of the National Representatives from the MOD of Republic of Bulgaria, as a Framework Nation, the Hellenic National Defence General Staff and the MOD of Republic of Poland, as Sponsoring Nations. In accordance with the CMDR COE Functional memorandum, a representative from HQ SACT joined the meeting in his capacity as a Subject Matter Expert (SME) in the CMDR domain.
The meeting was chaired by VADM Emil Eftimov, BGR DCHOD. In his opening remarks he made an overview of the CMDR COE achievements and perspectives, stressing on the importance and added value of the Centre in the entire process of the Alliance’s transformation. “I consider the Centre a valuable tool for enhancing civilian and military capabilities to better prepare for, predict, prevent and respond to crises and disasters in support of NATO’s and Partners’ crisis management systems. The CMDR COE leadership is placing high value on performing the afore-mentioned task and I am convinced we will continue our fruitful cooperation in the future and further join efforts in executing the CMDR COE’s mission.”, he said.
The Steering Committee meeting is the venue where the Framework Nation and Sponsoring Nations can specify all necessary requirements with which the CMDR COE has to achieve compliance throughout the year. The Steering Committee is the strategic governing body, responsible for the approval and management of the Centre’s Programme of Work (POW) and its Shared Budget.
During the 4th Steering Committee meeting, the SC members held a lively discussion on a number of items from the proposed CMDR COE Programme of Work 2017, as well as the Budget Estimates for FY-2017. All proposals were approved by consensus.
This year, the CMDR COE SC was pleased to welcome the GRC CHOD intention the position of the CMDR COE Deputy Director to be allocated to Greece. Following the CMDR COE SC decision on the subject, this intention is in effect and the new assigned Deputy Director COL Panagiotis APOSPORIS assumed related responsibility.
The 4th CMDR COE meeting concluded on a positive note with a tour de table and a closing ceremony held by the CMDR COE Director.
News
The Final Planning Conference of the exercise Saber Guardian 14 has finished successfullyThe Final Planning Conference of the exercise Saber Guardian 14 was held in Sofia last week (3-7 Feb 2014). The CMDR COE experts headed by LtC Orlin Nikolov, head of Capabilities Branch, participated in the workshops of the Contingency Management Planning/Unified Action (CPM/UA) syndicate.
On February 5, 2015, the CPM/UA members met with representatives of several GOs and NGOs. The meeting was arranged by the CMDR COE and co-hosted with the J9 USEUCOM as there were entities as Bulgarian Ministry of Interior, Chief Directorate Fire Safety and Civil Protection, State Agency of National Security, State Agency for Refugees, Bulgarian Academy of Science, Military Medical Academy, Red Cross, Caritas Bulgaria, Gender Research Foundation, Tennessee National Guard, Bulgarian Modeling and Simulation Association (BULSIM). The purpose of the meeting was to present them the scenario and storyline of their engagement into the exercise.
» read more
The initial planning conference for the SEESIM 14 exercise was held in Zagreb, CroatiaThe initial planning conference for the distributed computer assisted exercise South Eastern Europe Simulation Network (SEESIM 14) was held in Zagreb, Croatia. The Republic of Bulgaria is co-organizer and participates actively in the conducting of the exercise together with the Host Nation. Among the participants are also representatives of Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgia, Montenegro, Romania, the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, United States of America and the SEEBRIG.
The exercise is held under the auspices of the Ministers of Defence of the SEE Nations.
» read more
CMDR COE FEBRUARY Forthcoming events- In 3-7 of February experts from the CMDR COE team will take part in the Final Planning Conference of the SABER GUARDIAN ′14 Exercise, organized by the US EUCOM and BGR LANDFORCE.
The purpose of the exercise is to train and educate civilian and military participants in planning and conducting an UN mandated Chapter VII Peace Operation/Crisis Response Operation, based on a Comprehensive Approach, and focusing on co-operation and co-ordination within an unstable environment, involving all stakeholders. The principal exercise focus is the civilian-military cooperation and coordination. The scenario supports exercising a wide range of peace operations functions (e.g. rule of law, humanitarian, etc.). The CMDR COE will contribute to achieving the exercise objectives by providing subject matter expert support in the CMDR area and by organizing distributed point for White cell.
- In 11-13 February 2014 the Civil-Military Interaction: Disaster Preparedness and Response Workshop will take place in Sofia. The workshop is sponsored by the George C. Marshall European Center for Security Studies, the Ministry of Defence of the Republic of Bulgaria and the CMDR COE. The workshop comprises lectures dedicated to NATO and EU Crisis Management, role of military in civil security, risk management, as well as discussions and tabletop exercise.
Internal CMDR COE Seminar on the Crisis in SyriaThe CMDR COE organised an internal seminar which was held on 20.12.2013. The main focus of the seminar was the crisis in Syria. The CMDR COE experts discussed issued related to the chronology of the crisis; the increased influx of refugees to neighbouring countries and Bulgaria; the positions of NATO, the UN and EU; the involvement of international humanitarian organisations etc.
» read more
Visualizing Implications of Climate Change on Military Activities and Relationships was conductedOn 11-12 December 2013, the Crisis Management and Disaster Response Centre of Excellence (CMDR COE) co-hosted together with US European Command (USEUCOM) and the US embassy in Bulgaria the workshop Visualizing Implications of Climate Change on Military Activities and Relationships. The opening remarks were given by the Deputy Minister of Defence of Bulgaria, Mr. Ivan Ivanov, who welcomed the participants and underlined the importance of the topics that the workshop focused on.
» read more
