News

The Chairman of the Military Committee is the senior military advisor to the Secretary General, and the conduit through which advice from NATO’s Chiefs of Defence is presented to the political body of NATO, the North Atlantic Council.

Three years after he took up his position as Chairman of the NATO Military Committee, General Petr Pavel, from the Czech Republic’s Armed Forces, handed over the highest NATO military position to his successor, Air Chief Marshal Sir Stuart Peach, former Chief of Defence Staff of the British Armed Forces.

On 19 June 2018, Lieutenant General Jan Broeks, Director General of the NATO International Military Staff (DGIMS) hosted Lieutenant General Esa Pulkkinen, Director General of the European Union Military Staff (DGEUMS) for the bi-annual IMS-EUMS Director Generals’ Conference at the new NATO Headquarters in Brussels.

On 6 June 2018, the Cooperative Security Division of the NATO International Military Staff (IMS) hosted the annual NATO – African Union (AU) Military to Military staff talks with a delegation from the AU and 30 representatives from other NATO bodies.

After a three year pause NATO and China have reconvened military to military staff talks. The 5th iteration of the staff talks were held on 5th of June, in the New NATO HQ in Brussels.

General Petr Pavel, Chairman of the NATO Military Committee visited Nouakchott, Mauritania from 29-30 May 2018. While Mauritania has been a partner of NATO’s Mediterranean Dialogue since 1995, the visit marks the first time a Chairman of the NATO Military Committee visits Mauritania as Mauritania and NATO seek to enhance their practical cooperation.

On 23-24 May 2018, the Military Intelligence Committee held one of two annual meetings in Ottawa, Canada. NATO Nations and key stakeholders responsible for Intelligence met to discuss key Intelligence topics and ongoing strands of work.

The annual conference of the NATO Committee on Gender Perspectives (NCGP) took place from 29 May to 1 June 2018, in Brussels, Belgium. This year’s theme was “A 360 degree approach to gender”. The conference aimed to raise awareness of gender initiatives across the political, military and social domains in NATO, the United Nations (UN), the European Union, the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) and their respective nations and partners.

Belgrade – Lieutenant General (Lt Gen) Shepro, Deputy Chairman of the NATO Military Committee attended the 12th Balkan Countries Chiefs of Defence (CHoDs) Conference from 22 & 23 May in Belgrade, Serbia. The Lieutenant General discussed with the participating Chiefs of Defence and high ranking military officials ways of strengthening peace and security as well as military cooperation.

On 24 May 2018 the EUMS hosted the NATO-EU roundtable conference which was co-chaired by NATO’s Deputy Director for the Policy and Capabilities Division of the NATO International Military Staff (IMS), Brigadier General Miha Skerbinc and the Director CONCAP EUMS, Brigadier General Heinz Krieb.