On 1st April, the NATO Defense College (NDC) and the Ukrainian National Defence University (UNDU) opened the 19th edition of the International Week in Kyiv.
BG Rolf WAGNER, Head Academic Planning and Policy Division at the NATO Defense College, together with Anatolii Petrenko, Deputy Minister of Defence for European Integration opened the 19th International Kyiv Week with the theme “NATO beyond the Brussels Summit and 21st Century Challenges”.
This year, there were two combined keynote addresses, the first by the Ambassador of the United Kingdom & Northern Ireland to Ukraine, H.E. Ms Judith Gough and the Canadian Ambassador to Ukraine, H.E. Mr Roman Waschuk, and the second by Lieutenant General Jan Broeks, Director General of the NATO International Military Staff (DGIMS) and Mr Alexander Vinnikov Head of the NATO Representation to Ukraine (NLO).
International Kyiv Week, which is carried out in close cooperation with the NATO School Oberammergau (NSO) and the Ukrainian National Defence University (UNDU) represents NATO’s support of senior military education in Ukraine, and began on 28 January 2000 on the initiative of the then Minister of Defence of Ukraine, His Excellency Mr Kuzmik and Lord Robertson, former NATO Secretary General.
The NATO International Week in Kyiv plays an important role in UNDU education. Over the last two decades, the core mission of International Kyiv Week has been to permit UNDU students, senior officers and senior civilian officials to become more familiar with NATO and the means with which the North Atlantic Alliance accomplishes its priorities.
NDC Public Affairs Office
Collège de Défense de l'OTAN