Bulgaria 2025 Lessons Identified Conference: Turning Experience into Readiness

Date: (12-02-2026)

This conference was important because it moved the community from activity to improvement: from what happened in the field to what must change in procedures, coordination, and capabilities – so that the next real emergency finds us faster, sharper, and more interoperable.

A learning event built on a large, complex NATO exercise

BULGARIA 2025 was designed as a high-complexity, civilian-led emergency management exercise – one that trained a wide range of response disciplines while testing the seams between national systems and international support mechanisms. EADRCC exercises are among the world’s largest multinational emergency management activities, and BULGARIA 2025 specifically focused on strengthening resilience, preparedness, and civil-military cooperation.

Sofia as the “bridge” between field performance and strategic improvement

The Lessons Identified Conference held in Sofia captured operational realities and translated them into structured, shareable lessons.

The conference was also a planned milestone within the overall exercise cycle – explicitly included in NATO and exercise documentation as the mechanism to evaluate outcomes and determine next steps.

What we did: structured reflection across the full response spectrum

The conference design followed a practical rhythm to improve future planning processes.

After establishing a common baseline for discussion on Day 1, various working groups addressed the complexity of reality – from the planning phase, through logistics, operational elements, and multi-cell coordination structures, to cross-cutting topics. There was also a dedicated session on research, reinforcing that modern preparedness depends on evidence, data, and learning systems – not only tactics and hardware.

In his closing remarks, the CMDR COE Director, COL Orlin NIKOLOV, summarised the conference in the spirit in which it was conducted: “to turn experience into improvement.” He emphasised that the diversity of operational services, ministries, militaries, international organisations, and research communities was not decorative but essential to transforming complex experience into practical change.

He highlighted three key directions that emerged across the sessions:

Coordination structures matter most under pressure

“In a fast-moving, multi-actor response, clarity of roles, decision rhythms, and information flows can be as life-saving as any tool.”

Host Nation Support and cross-border facilitation are decisive enablers

“These are not merely ‘administrative’ issues; they are operational factors that determine how quickly teams arrive, how long they remain effective, and how safely they operate.”

Resilience and the information environment are inseparable from response

“Public communication, trust, and the ability to withstand malign narratives are integral to crisis management, not an add-on.”

Most importantly, COL Nikolov set a standard for what “success” actually means after a conference:

“Lessons that remain in conference notes do not improve readiness.”

He provided a concrete translation pathway, one that the community can align around immediately:

•             Actionable recommendations, prioritised by impact and feasibility;

•             Owners and timelines, so lessons become tasks;

•             Sharing mechanisms, so improvements scale across Allies and partners.

CMDR COE’s role was stated plainly and practically: to support partners and stakeholders in converting insight into capability, and to remind that real success will be demonstrated in the face of the next crisis, when we will be prepared to act quickly, coordinate more effectively, and communicate more clearly.

The CMDR COE Director also expressed his sincere appreciation to everyone who planned, delivered, evaluated, and supported both the exercise and the conference, especially the EADRCC and the Fire Safety and Civil Protection Directorate. That recognition is well deserved – this was a major multinational endeavour, and Bulgaria’s role as host enabled a demanding training environment and an equally professional space for honest reflection afterwards.

A Lessons Identified Conference is not the finish line – it is the handover point between learning and implementation. Resilience is not built during the crisis – it is built together, before it.