Your Excellency, thank you very much for your kind words and from my part good morning, and a warm welcome to the NATO Chiefs of Defence the Strategic Commanders and the Commander of NATO International Security Assistance Force Afghanistan gathered here in Sibiu, Romania, for the NATO Military Committee Conference 2012.
May I begin, on behalf of us all, by expressing my thanks to our hosts, the nation of Romania, and the city of Sibiu, for their generous hospitality.
In particular, I want to thank the Romanian Minister of National Defence, Excellency Corneliu DOBRIŢOIU.
Romania is a highly valued member of the Alliance. Your commitment demonstrated daily on operations has been vital, particularly in Afghanistan, where your forces continue to play an important role in supporting the delivery of a successful mission. Romania has the 7th largest contingent of all 50 ISAF Troop Contributing Nations with around 1770 deployed personnel (as of 20 Aug 2012) in Regional Command South and in Kabul. Moreover, your commitment to the future of Afghanistan is currently sustained with 100 trainers in different schools and centres across the country. Romania also continues to support NATO efforts in Kosovo, by contributing a contingent of 60 personnel to KFOR.
Let us turn to business. In the presence of the media, I wish to make some opening remarks on the reasons why we are here, the work we have before us, and outcomes we intend to achieve.
Our role as the Military Committee is to provide the North Atlantic Council with timely, realistic, consensus based military advice, in order for them to execute their role as the principal decision making body in NATO. Our advice must be the outcome of a healthy debate in this forum of Chiefs of Defence, in which we reconcile the diversity of views of our nations, forge consensus and advise our Heads of State and Government and their representatives in the North Atlantic Council accordingly. Our work is critical in ensuring the continued collective defence and security of our Alliance.
Today, we will focus on what matters to the Alliance now and in the future. Our Conference is the first gathering since our Heads of State and Government met at the Chicago Summit and is a month away from the next meeting of the Defence Ministers in Brussels.
We will begin with a review of the security challenges the Alliance currently faces. In this regard, I look forward to a rich exchange of national perspectives.
With the context set, we will then delve into our mission in Afghanistan supported by the Commander of the International Security Assistance Force, General John Allen, via VTC.
Following this session, we will look into the Western Balkans, from the Military Committee’s perspective, within the context of the new political landscape in the region, and the on-going EU sponsored dialogue between Pristina and Belgrade.
We will then discuss NATO’s Transformation and look at ways to support progress on key deliverables that our Heads of State and Government agreed to at the Summit in Chicago.
In each of our sessions we will rely on the support from SACEUR, Admiral Jim Stavridis, and SACT, General Stéphane Abrial, and his successor from 28 September onwards, General Jean-Paul Palomeros, to enable our debate, with their insights as Strategic Commanders. We will conclude with some internal agenda points.
We have much to do in a very short period of time and I would like to kindly request for the media to now depart so that we can commence.
Thank you
