On January 16-17 Chief of Defence of Lithuania Lieutenant General Jonas Vytautas Žukas and his NATO counterparts and NATO leadership are discussing relevant NATO and international security matters at the 178th Military Committee (MC) meeting at the NATO Headquarters in Brussels.
In the beginning of the MC conference the Chiefs of Defence will be briefed on the situation in the Middle East and North Africa, discuss NATO role in stabilising the situation. Projecting Stability Initiatives, Fight against Terrorism, the Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS and the ongoing NATO Training and Capacity Building in Iraq will also be addressed.
Considerable attention will be paid to Operation Resolute Support in Afghanistan. Officials in charge will inform the MC with the political, strategic and operational aspects of the situation, and further prospects will be discussed.
In the afternoon session, General Curtis M Scaparrotti, SACEUR and General Denis Mercier, SACT, will present their recommendations regarding the NATO Command Structure Adaptation and discuss the process of implementation.
On the second day of the conference the MC will meet with Georgia and Ukraine partners. The session on Ukraine will address security situation in and around the country and its security and defence reform. The Georgian partners will brief the MC on the status and prospects of Georgia's defence system reform, discuss further implementation of the Substantial NATO-Georgia Package.
The final session of the meeting will be dedicated to the Alliance Adaptation, processes and the way ahead.
The Military Committee (MC) is NATO's highest structure of military command subordinate to the North Atlantic Council, Defence Planning Committee and Nuclear Planning Group. It takes strategic-level military decisions and forms military advice to the North Atlantic Council, the political decision-making body.
At the highest level the MC is comprised of NATO countries' Chiefs of Defence while daily activities are carried out by their military representatives. Chiefs of Defence sessions normally take place three times per year, two in Brussels and one - in one of the NATO states on a rotational basis. Last time the Chiefs of Defence met as the Military Committee was in Albania in September 2017.
More information from the event (English): http://bit.ly/2lYL0U3
Credit: Sgt Spc Ieva Budzeikaitė
Spokesperson to the Chief of Defence of Lithuania Major Mindaugas Neimontas, +370 5 278 5091, +370 682 25359, mindaugas.neimontas@mil.lt
