Taking “Domestic CIMIC” South

Following the initial steps of the Baltic NATO CIMIC Initiative in the North-East, the CCOE is now also extending its focus to the South-Eastern regions of the Atlantic Alliance. In order to better acquaint himself with all the regional environment of all sponsoring nations onsite, CCOE Director Wolfgang Paulik is visiting Slovenia this week. He is accompanied by Lieutenant-Commander Primoz Protner, who, as the Slovenian delegate at the CCOE, is active as a course director in the Training & Education branch.

“In addition to meet the CIMIC stakeholders in the Armed Forces of our Alliance partner, I am particularly looking forward to learn more about the specific national and regional requirements for CIMIC here”, says Colonel Paulik. “Our recent projects and missions have resulted in our firm understanding to develop tailor-made training and competence solution for each respective situation“.

As we have experienced during our Baltic trip in October, there is just no better way to raise the visibility of the CCOE, than to engage with our CIMIC partners’ right within their own national context.”

Together with their meeting partners at the headquarters of the Slovenian forces at Ljubljana, the CCOE delegation will explore ways to enhance the overall CIMIC education capacities in Slovenia.
The discussion will center on options to develop Slovenia into a regional 360 degree training hub with certified, and regionally tailor-made NATO courses for students from the entire South Eastern flank countries.

“For Slovenia, this trip marks a significant development for my sponsoring nation, as it prepares the ground for the operationalization of the decisions of the recent NATO summits in my country,” adds LtCDR Protner.
“What has started with the CIMIC Initiative in the Baltics, will soon be taken to the European regions making up the South-Eastern flank.”

This trip precedes an expected focus of the CCOE towards the South-East in 2018.

The CCOE delegation will also visit the Military Center of Education at Kadetnica, a potential site for the location of the CCOE regional training hub, as well as the CIMIC Centre of the Austrian Forces at Graz and the recently launched Mountain Warfare Centre of Excellence (MW COE).