3 - 7 Nov. 2003

Regional cooperation in action Background Civil emergency planning Links SHAPE Turkish general staff Partnership for Peace Training Center A regional course on civil emergency planning (CEP) and civil-military co-operation (CIMIC) was held in Ankara, Turkey, 3-7 November. The course aimed to introduce participants to the organisation, role and functions of Civil Emergency Planning (CEP) and to the objective, basic principles and procedures of Civil-Military Co-operation (CIMIC). It included discussions on the protection of populations against the consequences from the use of chemical, biological and radiological agents and was an opportunity for participants to exchange relevant information. More than 40 participants from different Turkish Ministries and civil organisations, as well as from other countries, such as Austria, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Belgium, Norway, Poland, Portugal and Switzerland attended the course. Israel and Jordan accepted invitations to the Mediterranean Dialogue countries and were represented with two participants each. This course is the seventeenth of its kind. Previous courses were conducted in Central Asia (Kazakhstan, Kyrgyz Republic, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan), in the Caucasus (Azerbaijan and Georgia), and in other partner countries, such as Bulgaria, Finland, Lithuania, Russia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Sweden and Ukraine. Future courses of this kind are scheduled to be held in Sweden and the United States (2004). The course was conducted jointly by the Civil Emergency Planning/ Operations Division, NATO HQ, SHAPE, CIMIC Section and the Turkish PfP Centre on behalf of the Turkish General Staff.