Press Release (2005)003 19 Jan. 2005

NATO crisis management exercise with partners CMX 2005 From 26 January To 1 February 2005 NATO will conduct its annual crisis management exercise (CMX 2005) from 26 January to 1 February 2005. CMX 2005 is sponsored by NATO's Secretary General and is jointly run by the International Staff and the International Military Staff and the two NATO Strategic Commands, Allied Command Operations and Allied Command Transformation. In addition to the 26 NATO nations, nine Partner nations have been involved in the planning and execution of this NATO CMX as Troop Contributing Nations. This has provided them with an opportunity to familiarise themselves with crisis management procedures and will strengthen cooperation between NATO and its Partners in the Political-Military Framework for NATO-led Partnership for Peace (PfP) operations. The exercise is designed to practice crisis management procedures, including civil-military cooperation, in order to maintain and improve the Alliance's ability to manage crises. The scenario for this exercise is fictitious. It will depict a UN-mandated and NATO-led crisis response operation deployment outside the Euro-Atlantic area in order to reduce tension between two fictitious states. The environment includes the risk of conventional conflict and an asymmetric dimension such as the threat of terrorism and the use of weapons of mass destruction (WMD) against deployed NATO-led forces and in troop contributing nations. No troops will be deployed in the exercise. The nine Partner nations involved in CMX 05 are: Armenia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Croatia, Finland, Ireland, Sweden, Switzerland and the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia(1) . Participants in CMX 2005 will include civil and military staffs in national capitals, at NATO Headquarters, and in both Strategic Commands. Representatives from the UN, EU and OSCE will be invited as observers. For further information, please contact the NATO Press and Media Service in Brussels (tel: +32.2. 707.5041; fax: +32.2.707.5057). 1.Turkey recognises the Republic of Macedonia with its constitutional name.

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