The inauguration ceremony of the seventh NATO Regional Cooperation Course (NRCC-7) took place today at the NATO Defense College (NDC).
The opening remarks were given by the Dean of the NDC, Dr. Richard D. Hooker, who underlined that the purpose of the NRCC is to create common ground for dialogue between NATO and its current and future partners from the Mediterranean Dialogue, the Istanbul Cooperation Initiative and the broader Middle East region.
Dr. Hooker expressed the hope that NRCC-7 will give participants the opportunity to build better understanding, trust and cooperation, and will provide networking opportunities to Officers and Officials attending the Course. In this perspective, the Dean pointed out that NATO and Partner Countries “are close neighbours in an ever-shrinking world. It is time that we reach out to each other and face our common challenges together”.
Three years after the creation of the NRCC the world has changed dramatically – from the financial crisis to the Arab Spring, from the NATO operation in Libya to the current events in Syria. In the light of these dynamic changes, the goal of NRCC-7 is to provide Course Members with “the learning experience necessary to succeed in a complex and challenging time of transition everywhere in the world”.
NRCC-7 brings together 25 participants from 12 different nations, including six NATO countries, five from the Mediterranean Dialogue (MD) and one from the Istanbul Cooperation Initiative (ICI). The course, which is held twice a year, was created at the Riga Summit in 2006 by a Summit Declaration of Heads of State and Government.
NDC Public Affairs Office
(Prepared by Ms Iliana Panayotova, BGR C)
NATO Defense College 