The 40th Conference of Commandants (CoC), chaired by Lieutenant General Wolf-Dieter Loeser, Commandant of the NATO Defense College, was held from Sunday 29th May to Tuesday 31st May in Cracow (Poland). The Conference brought together over 120 participants, representing a total of 60 institutions in 39 different countries. Sunday’s opening reception, before the start of the academic proceedings, was hosted by Major General R. Ratajczak, Rector-Commandant of the Polish National Defence University (Akademia Obrony Narodowej).
On Monday 30th May, Major General Ratajczak formally welcomed participants before giving the floor to Lieutenant General Loeser for the official opening of the Conference. As Chairman of the CoC, Lieutenant General Loeser thanked the event’s Polish hosts for their generous hospitality and organization.
The importance of the event was underlinded by the presence of the Polish Minister of Defence, Mr Bogdan Klich and the Chief of the Polish General Staff General Mieczyslaw Cieniuch.
Many issues of common interest were discussed, such as the requirement to ensure that senior officers are equipped with the necessary skills to address the challenges posed by an international scenario in a state of constant flux. As has become customary at the CoC, topics were examined through a series of “Thinking Platforms” and also featured a discussion exercise, as a forum for development of a conceptual model to accommodate regional groupings.
The four “Thinking Platforms” were held during the morning of Tuesday 31st May. The discussions started with input from Brigadier General J.D. Testé (FRA), who chaired the first TP on “Delivering Higher Defense Education in a Financially Constrained Environment: Doing More with Less”. The closing TP, on “The New Strategic Concept and the Partnership”, was chaired by Major General C. Branco (PRT).
The Conference of Commandants was established by Vice-Admiral J.C. O’Brien (Canada), Commandant of the NATO Defense College from 1970 to 1973. It was held every year in Rome from May 1972 until 1988. Since then the Conference has continued to reconvene periodically in Rome, but has also been hosted with increasing frequency by its member institutions in their respective countries.
The Conference proposes, firstly, to facilitate the exchange of information between those responsible for higher defence education, with a view to improving curricula and teaching methods. Secondly, it aims to promote cooperation in higher defence education between Colleges in NATO countries, Partnership for Peace (PfP), Mediterranean Dialogue (MD), Istanbul Cooperation Initiative (ICI) and others.
NDC Public Affairs Office
(Prepared by Mr Patrick Marrone, ITA C)
Collège de Défense de l'OTAN