Eighth CMDR COE Steering Committee Meeting
Date: (07-10-2020)
Under the provisions of the CMDR COE’s Operational Memorandum of Understanding, the Sponsoring Nations establish the Steering Committee (SC) under the permanent chairmanship of Framework Nation. No decisions there can be taken under silence procedure. Yearly the SC provides direction, guidance and advice to the CMDR COE Director for the effective execution of Centre’s mission and activities.
The Crisis Management and Disaster Response Centre of Excellence (CMDR COE) organised and hosted the 8th Steering Committee meeting, which took place on 6-7 October 2020 at CMDR COE premises, in order to facilitate a prolific debate around the subject.
The annual Steering Committee sessions are the venue where the Framework Nation and Sponsoring Nations set out all required prerequisites to be provided by the CMDR COE every year. The strategic governing body is responsible for the approval and management of the Centre’s Programme of Work (POW) and the shared budget. Considering the POW, the Steering Committee members allocate the priorities of the activities and subsequently task the CMDR COE Director with managing the programme execution.
The Chairman of the Steering Committee, Lieutenant General Dimitar Iliev, Deputy Chief of Defence of the Republic of Bulgaria, highlighted in his opening remarks the importance and broad positive effects this joint endeavour brings.
Romania declared the opening of joining process to the CMDR COE in order to receive the status of “Sponsoring nation”. Romania officially declared its commitment to deploy personnel from the Ministry of Internal Affairs no later than 1 July 2021.
As members of the Steering Committee, Colonel Plamen Kostadinov from the Framework nation and the representatives from the Sponsoring nations, Colonel Ioannis Chondroudakis (Hellenic Republic) and Colonel Ireneusz Zygmunt (Republic of Poland) actively discussed the topics, expressing their appreciation for the achieved improvement and hard work of CMDR COE staff despite the COVID-19 situation. As observers, including online, part took representatives from Allied Command Transformation, Hungary, Romania and The Republic of North Macedonia, who congratulated the CMDR COE for the ambitious and successful performance in 2020.
At the meeting were discussed the activities hold in 2020, current and future POWs and projects, as well as the CMDR COE budget, proposal for organisational amendment, strategic perspective and forthcoming events.
The 8th Steering Committee confirmed that despite the challenging pandemic situation that the Centre greatly advanced on its aim, further strengthening its position as a hub of expertise in CMDR supporting and contributing to the enhancement of NATO’s CMDR capabilities, to the improvement of the Alliance’s interoperability though education and training, research and analyses, concept and doctrine development, experimentation, and lessons-learned.
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