Tenth NATO Regional Cooperation Course – Italian Day

Tuesday 12 November was an important day for the tenth NATO Regional Cooperation Course (NRCC 10), with a series of briefings dedicated to examining security issues in the Mediterranean area from an Italian perspective. For this “Italian Day”, the Course was hosted by the Italian Centre for Higher Defence Studies – Centro Alti Studi per la Difesa (CASD), in the historic setting of Palazzo Salviati near St Peter’s Square.

Proceedings were opened by Col Giuseppe Morabito (ITA A), Director of the Middle East Faculty at the NATO Defense College (NDC). The first talk was given by Capt Luigi Marzullo (ITA A), who illustrated the history, structure and mission of the CASD. He spoke about the Centre’s range of activities in the fields of research and education, the main focus being on topics related to the organization of national defence. The speaker highlighted the evolution in educational requirements, given the increasing importance of interoperability in dealing with current international security challenges.

LtCol Daniel Gillespie (USA F) of the NDC’s Middle East Faculty then introduced VAdm (ret)Mario Rino Me (ITA N), who gave a very comprehensive presentation entitled “The 5+5 Defence Initiative: Flexible Multilateralism in the Wider Mediterranean”. VAdm Me began with an overview of the Mediterranean environment from a historical, sociological, and geopolitical viewpoint. This introduction contextualized the speaker’s detailed explanation of the 5+5 Defence Initiative, which was created in 2004 with a Declaration of Intent signed by the Ministers of Defence of Algeria, Spain, France, Italy, Libya, Malta, Morocco, Mauritania, Portugal and Tunisia. The initiative was defined by VAdm Me as “… an ideal form to both exploit the features of the area and to decouple the cooperation from the repercussions of some enduring tensions”. In this overall setting, there is an ever-growing need to engage with new initiatives suited to the rapidly shifting dynamics of international security and defence.

The talk was followed by a dynamic Q&A session, covering questions of great topical interest. Among the topics discussed were: stability in the Mediterranean, in relation to the security situation in Mali; the concept of interoperability; Mauritania’s role as an actor in the Mediterranean region; the EU’s European Neighbourhood Policy; and the position of the Gulf states regarding the Arab Spring.

Prof Fabio Nicolucci (ITA C), NATO Defense College Foundation Gulf analyst, then gave an interesting presentation on Italy’s relations with the Gulf region. After a detailed analysis of trade links, Prof Nicolucci explored security cooperation in strategic fields related to a number of challenges (e.g. terrorism, piracy, cyber warfare). In his concluding remarks, he underlined the opportunities for continued – and even enhanced – cooperation between Italy and the Gulf states.

The Italian Day ended with a Q&A period, offering additional insights into economic issues related to international security. A number of interesting points were raised, regarding national perspectives on broader security issues in the Middle East and North Africa region.

NDC Public Affairs Office
(Prepared by Ms Monica Fornari, ITA C)