CMDR COE Carried Out Fruitful Crisis Management and Disaster Response Interagency Interaction Annual Conference 2016
Date: (02-06-2016)
CMDR COE conducted its fourth annual conference for Crisis Management and Disaster Response Interagency Interaction from 31st May to 02nd June in Marinela Hotel in Sofia, Bulgaria.
The annual event brought together subject matter experts, researchers and educators, planners and developers, advisers and various actors working in the crisis management and disaster response domain in order to promote a lively debate on relevant issues.
This year, more than 110 representatives of international organizations and institutions from a total of 13 NATO and PfP nations took part in the annual event. CMDR COE was pleased to host participants from UN OCHA, ACT, JFC Naples and JFC Brunssum, NATO COEs, Land Command Turkey, ARRC UK and RRC France, the Polish Humanitarian Action, Bulgarian MFA , MOD and Ministry of Economy, Bulgarian JFC, Navy and Land Forces Command, the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, the Defense Academy "G.S. Rakovski" and the National Military University “V. Levski”, the Bulgarian Red Cross, MASA Group, Bulgarian Modeling and Simulation Association – BULSIM and IBM among others.
The conference opening address was delivered by the Deputy Minister of Defence of the Republic of Bulgaria Mr. Dimitar Kyumyurdzhiev. Mr. Kyumyurdzhiev was followed by the welcome speech of the CMDR COE Director, COL Vassil Roussinov who emphasized the importance of leadership, commitment and cooperation - the basic ingredients of any response that strives for effectiveness.
The keynote speakers of the conference were Prof. Jose Julio Gonzalez from the University of Agder, Norway and Mr. Grzegorz Gruca, vice president of the Polish Humanitarian Action.
Three ideas underlay this year’s conference as clustered in the shape of three plenary sessions.
- Lessons Learned From Disasters Relief And Humanitarian Assistance.
- Consequence Management and the Mitigation of the Natural and Manmade Disasters.
- M&S Support for Crisis and Disaster Management Processes and Climate Change Implications.
The CMDR COE is glad to announce that the main objectives of the 2016 Conference have been met. Among them were:
- To spread the knowledge concerning Lessons Identified/Lessons Learned in disasters relief and humanitarian assistance, consequence management and the ways of mitigation the effects of the natural and manmade calamities.
- To make the contacts in order to exchange ideas among the members of the crisis management community of interest.
- The researchers from different countries to have the opportunity to present their work and to share experience with other scientists working in the field of Climate change.
- To share data between researchers in different countries, cooperation between research institutes and governmental organizations, the application of hydrological and meteorological research for the planning of disaster prevention activities according implications of Climate change in military operations and disaster occurrence.
The CMDR COE staff would like to extend their gratitude for the fruitful discussion and the contribution from the participants.
News
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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.
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The exercise is held under the auspices of the Ministers of Defence of the SEE Nations.
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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.
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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.
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