Press Communiqué M-NAC-1(94)47 Issued at the Ministerial Meeting of the North Atlantic Cooperation Council held in Istanbul, Turkey, 10 June 1994

Ministerial Meeting of the North Atlantic Council/ North Atlantic Cooperation Council, Istanbul, Turkey, 9-10 June 1994 Report to Ministers by the NACC Ad Hoc Group on Cooperation in Peacekeeping

Based on the Work Programme endorsed by NACC Ministers at their meeting on 3rd December 1993, the Ad Hoc Group on Cooperation in Peacekeeping has continued its activities of consultation on political and conceptual issues and of practical cooperation in peacekeeping-related areas. The Group has developed a number of principles and practical modalities to coordinate closely the work of the Ad Hoc Group with that of the Political-Military Steering Committee (PMSC) in the NACC/PfP format, with the objective of merging the two groups as soon as possible. Following this merger, the PMSC in the NACC/PfP format will maintain the Technical Sub-Group established by the AHG and continue to meet with the current AHG participants when dealing with peacekeeping. These Principles and modalities have been approved by the North Atlantic Council with Cooperation Partners (NAC+). With regard to political and conceptual issues, a Seminar was held in Budapest in January on the humanitarian aspects of peacekeeping. This was followed by the development of a conceptual paper on the issue, which will be considered further in the AHG. A Seminar, to be held on 5th-7th October 1994, will be devoted to examining the latest conceptual developments in the field of peacekeeping, including aspects related to the broader framework of crisis management and assessment of the role of institutions and review of experiences gained so far. Consideration of the legal aspects of peacekeeping has been agreed including, possibly, a Seminar on the subject in due course. With regard to activities of practical cooperation, the results of the work carried out on the basis of the programme endorsed by Ministers in December are set out below. Peacekeeping Exercises: a NACC/PfP peacekeeping field exercise will be held in the Netherlands during the last week of October. On current plans, 11 nations have confirmed their intention to participate. All AHG members are invited to participate in the observer programme to the exercise and, to date, 21 countries have signified their intention to do so. In addition, Poland has offered to host a NACC/PfP peacekeeping field exercise in the Autumn. There is also a NACC/PfP maritime exercise planned for the Autumn. In addition, cooperation has been enhanced by a number of bilateral and multilateral exercises, and more are scheduled this year. Examples of this type of activity are attached at Annex. The Czech Republic has agreed to make available an exercise area for a peacekeeping exercise in 1995. Hungary, Germany and the United Kingdom have agreed to hold a peacekeeping exercise in Hungary next year, with the involvement of the NATO Military Authorities and possible participation by other countries.

	Cooperation in Planning for Peacekeeping: an informal open-ended expert group chaired by the NATO Military Authorities has proposed guidelines for peacekeeping planning, together with guidelines for forces and capabilities required for peacekeeping, aided by the development of generic peacekeeping scenarios. The initial results of this work will shortly be considered by the TSG. Development of a Common Technical Base in Peacekeeping - Communications: an expert group led by the Netherlands is pursuing the possibility of developing a Communications Equipment Database and a Communications Concept in support of peacekeeping. It is also considering options for the design of the communications database and is seeking to harmonise all of its work with efforts on Command and Control aspects of peacekeeping. Command and Control: the UK has circulated a paper on Command and Control Guidelines for Multinational Peacekeeping Operations and has scheduled a workshop in the UK, 5th-8th July 1994, to discuss the matter. Peacekeeping Training and Education: under the lead of Denmark, efforts are being made to exchange and collate information on national peacekeeping training (courses, reference material, concepts, methods, standards) with the aim, where possible, to coordinate and streamline training activities among AHG members. In addition, the SHAPE School last month conducted the first of two peacekeeping courses scheduled for 1994 with participation from many Cooperation Partner countries. A peacekeeping Unit Commanders' course is currently taking place in the Czech Republic, as a follow-up to the successful course conducted in 1993. A Commanders/ Managerial course on peacekeeping will take place in Poland on 13th-17th June. Logistics Aspects of Peacekeeping: in the field of peacekeeping logistics, the Seminar held in Norway last November has been followed by a workshop on peacekeeping logistics for key logisticians at NATO Headquarters earlier this month. Austria, Finland and Sweden have attended meetings of the AHG as observers, actively participating in its practical activities and contributing on the basis of their specific experience. Recently, Ireland was also invited, at its request, to attend meetings of the AHG as observer. Representatives of the CSCE Chairman-in-Office also continued to participate actively in the work of the AHG, with a view to ensuring efficient coordination of CSCE and AHG activities in the field of peacekeeping. The UN also participated in one of the meetings of the TSG. Annex Bilateral and Multilateral Peacekeeping Exercises - 1994 The following are examples provided by a number of nations of currently planned or scheduled bilateral and multilateral peacekeeping-related exercises for 1994 involving members of the NACC Ad Hoc Group on Cooperation in Peacekeeping. The content of the list may be subject to change. Participants Dates Exercise Land Poland, United Kingdom May Company level land exercise France, Czech Republic 1-15 June Land exercise in the Czech Republic Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania (Joint Baltic Peacekeeping Battalion) 13-15 July exercises in Lithuania Czech Republic, Netherlands Sep Platoon level land exercise Poland, United Kingdom Sep Company level parachute exercise Hungary, United Kingdom Oct Company level land exercise Denmark, Germany, Netherlands, Poland, United Kingdom Oct/Nov Engineer exercise "Carbon Gap" at platoon level Poland, Netherlands Oct/Nov Platoon level peacekeeping exercise Denmark, Germany, Poland (BALTIC States observe) Oct/Nov Land exercise in Jutland France, Germany, Poland Nov Land exercise with participation of Franco-German Brigade and a Polish company Germany, Russia Autumn Phase I (study period) of a 3-stage exercise leading to Phase III (CPX) in 1996 Albania, Bulgaria, United States Late 94 Medical Exercises, Central & Eastern Europe (MEDCEUR), medical assistance programme Maritime Belgium, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Ireland, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Netherlands, Norway, Russia, Sweden, United Kingdom, United States 6-10 June Baltic Operations (BALTOPS) maritime exercise
Bulgaria, Romania, United States, Denmark, Germany, Poland, Germany, Russia	24-29 July Sep. To be confirmed	BREEZE 94, naval exercise in Black Sea Mine-Sweeping exercise in BalticSea PASSEX, naval exercise in Baltic Sea
Air
United States, and open to observers	Summer, Autumn	Opportunity to observe Joint Task Force (JTF) PROVIDE PROMISE planning and execution
(Possible)United States and others	To be confirmed	Search and Rescue exercise