Flag of Romania raised at CMDR COE
Date: (02-07-2021)
The flag of Romania was raised at the Crisis Management and Disaster Response Centre of Excellence (CMDR COE) headquarters today during a ceremony welcoming the country’s accession to the CMDR COE. Romania joined the organization after signing a Note of Joining to participate in the Memorandum of Understanding of the establishment, administration and operation of the Centre.
The Ambassador of Romania to the Republic of Bulgaria, H.E. Ms. Brandusa Ioana Predescu, Police Superintendant Alexandru Iorgolescu, Home Affairs (Police) attaché, attended in person the ceremony to hoist the flag with the Romanian military attaché, Colonel George-Adrian Enache. The Minister of Defence of Bulgaria, Mr Georgi Panayotov, and Deputy Chief of Defence Lieutenant General Dimitar Iliev, congratulated the special event marked also with the presence of the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Albania to the Republic of Bulgaria, H.E. Dr. Donika Hoxha; the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Kingdom of Morocco to the Republic of Bulgaria, HE Mrs. Zakia El Midaoui; and the Ambassador of the Republic of Serbia to Bulgaria, HE Mr. Zeljko Jovic. The defence and military attachés of Greece, Poland, Serbia, Turkey and the USA attended the ceremony.
The CMDR COE Director, Colonel Orlin Nikolov, gave welcome remarks and pointed, "We’re proud to call Romania a Sponsoring Nation of CMDR COE, and we’re extremely grateful for its support for our mission. The demonstrated commitment gives us an advance in our efforts to act as a catalyst for the enhancement of NATO Nations’ capabilities in crisis management and disaster response".
On July 1, 2021, Romania officially joined the Crisis Management and Disaster Response Centre of Excellence (CMDR COE) with an MOU-signing and became the third Sponsoring Nation of the Bulgaria-based military international organization dedicated to support and contribute to the enhancement of NATO’s crisis management and disaster response capabilities, and as a corollary – to improve the Alliance’s interoperability.
The Crisis Management and Disaster Response Centre of Excellence (CMDR COE), located in Sofia was established on 28 August 2013 and received official accreditation as the 21st NATO COE on 31 March 2015. The CMDR COE primary area of responsibility - crisis management and disaster response (CMDR), is coupled by a broad thematic portfolio including relevant cross-cutting topics such as resilience, climate change, protection of civilians, gender mainstreaming. The Centre provides research and analysis, tailored education and training for senior experts (strategic / operational level), support to concept development and experimentation, doctrine and standardisation, lessons-learned.
The CMDR COE is a multi-nationally sponsored entity, which offers recognized expertise and experience to the benefit of the Alliance, especially in support of transformation. The Centre is part of NATO COE's Network but outside the Command Structure (NCS), while forms a part of the wider NATO Command Arrangements (NCA).
