{"id":11714,"date":"2014-01-27T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2014-01-26T23:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ndc.nato.int\/mef-visit-to-the-national-defence-university-iraq\/"},"modified":"2026-01-15T09:07:04","modified_gmt":"2026-01-15T08:07:04","slug":"mef-visit-to-the-national-defence-university-iraq","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ndc.nato.int\/fr\/mef-visit-to-the-national-defence-university-iraq\/","title":{"rendered":"MEF visit to the National Defence University, Iraq"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"NDC
NDC Head Middle East Faculty Col Morabito (right) presents Iraqi NDU Director Lt Gen Beresan Edham with an NDC Crest.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n

On Wednesday 22nd January, a delegation from the NATO Defense College, composed of the Head, Middle East Faculty (MEF) Col G. Morabito (ITA A), Dr J.-L. Samaan (FRA C – Faculty Advisor at the MEF) and Dr B. Smith-Windsor (CAN C – NDC Research Division), was welcomed at the Iraqi National Defence University (NDU) for a two-day workshop on \u201cNATO and the Middle East\u201d. The event is part of the \u201cDefence Education Enhancement Programme\u201d (DEEP), signed between NATO and Iraq.<\/p>\n

This educational visit is an opportunity to strengthen NATO\u2019s – and, in particular, the NDC\u2019s – relations with a key ally, who continues to play a crucial role for the Alliance in the state-building process and the security policy of the region. <\/p>\n

Upon arrival, the NATO representatives were greeted by the Director of the NDU, LtGen Abbas Beresan Edham, who invited Col Morabito to an official lunch, to discuss matters of common interest. <\/p>\n


\nDr Samaan<\/a> opened the working session with a lecture given in Arabic, on \u201cNATO in the Middle East: history and prospects\u201d, providing the audience with a comprehensive overview of NATO\u2019s engagement in the region for over two decades, with emphasis on NATO\u2019s partnerships – the Mediterranean Dialogue (MD) and the Istanbul Cooperation Initiative (ICI) – and on the setting up of the NATO Training Mission in Iraq (NTM-I). The seminar was attended by more than 40 Generals and by the entire University Command group, thus marking the importance attached to the event. <\/p>\n

Following a lively Q&A session, Col Morabito gave a presentation of NDC activities and spoke about possible future cooperation between the College and the Iraqi authorities, in the field of education and research. In particular, he flagged the next NATO Regional Cooperation Course (NRCC 11): this will start on 6th March, when the MEF will be pleased to welcome three new Iraqi Course Members.<\/p>\n

Later on, Col Morabito and Dr Smith-Windsor<\/a> held the first \u201cCrisis Management Exercise\u201d. This was a novel experience for the NDU, and met with great success. Using a case study, the NDC delegation gave a demonstration of decision making in a cooperative environment, and of how vital it is in order to confront key contemporary issues, such as terrorism, environmental degradation, humanitarian assistance, as well as concerns with governance. <\/p>\n

The second day of the visit was entirely dedicated to \u201cCrisis Management Exercise\u201d<\/a> activities, run by Col Morabito and Dr Smith-Windsor. <\/p>\n

At the close of the visit, the NDC delegation met the Italian Ambassador in Iraq, H.E. Massimo Marotti, for an appraisal of this important event, since, at present, the Italian Embassy in Baghdad is the NATO contact embassy in Iraq.<\/p>\n

NDC Public Affairs Office<\/em><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

NDC Head Middle East Faculty Col Morabito (right) presents Iraqi NDU Director Lt Gen Beresan Edham with an<\/p>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_eb_attr":"","_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","advgb_blocks_editor_width":"","advgb_blocks_columns_visual_guide":"","editor_plus_copied_stylings":"{}","_EventAllDay":false,"_EventTimezone":"","_EventStartDate":"","_EventEndDate":"","_EventStartDateUTC":"","_EventEndDateUTC":"","_EventShowMap":false,"_EventShowMapLink":false,"_EventURL":"","_EventCost":"","_EventCostDescription":"","_EventCurrencySymbol":"","_EventCurrencyCode":"","_EventCurrencyPosition":"","_EventDateTimeSeparator":"","_EventTimeRangeSeparator":"","_EventOrganizerID":[],"_EventVenueID":[],"_OrganizerEmail":"","_OrganizerPhone":"","_OrganizerWebsite":"","_VenueAddress":"","_VenueCity":"","_VenueCountry":"","_VenueProvince":"","_VenueState":"","_VenueZip":"","_VenuePhone":"","_VenueURL":"","_VenueStateProvince":"","_VenueLat":"","_VenueLng":"","_VenueShowMap":false,"_VenueShowMapLink":false,"_themeisle_gutenberg_block_has_review":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"post_badge":[],"class_list":["post-11714","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"featured_image_src":null,"author_info":{"display_name":"NDC","author_link":"https:\/\/www.ndc.nato.int\/fr\/author\/admin_3rwqf6tj\/"},"modified_by":null,"author_meta":{"display_name":"NDC","author_link":"https:\/\/www.ndc.nato.int\/fr\/author\/admin_3rwqf6tj\/"},"featured_img":null,"featured_image_urls":{"full":"","thumbnail":"","medium":"","medium_large":"","large":"","1536x1536":"","2048x2048":"","trp-custom-language-flag":"","morenews-featured":"","morenews-large":"","morenews-medium":""},"category_info":"News<\/a>","tag_info":"News","comment_count":0,"coauthors":[],"tax_additional":{"categories":{"linked":["News<\/a>"],"unlinked":["News<\/span>"]}},"relative_dates":{"created":"Publi\u00e9 12 ans il y a","modified":"Mis \u00e0 jour 6 mois il y a"},"absolute_dates":{"created":"Publi\u00e9 le janvier 27, 2014","modified":"Mise \u00e0 jour le janvier 15, 2026"},"absolute_dates_time":{"created":"Publi\u00e9 le janvier 27, 2014 00:00","modified":"Mise \u00e0 jour le janvier 15, 2026 09:07"},"featured_img_caption":"","series_order":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ndc.nato.int\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11714","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ndc.nato.int\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ndc.nato.int\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ndc.nato.int\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ndc.nato.int\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11714"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.ndc.nato.int\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11714\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ndc.nato.int\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11714"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ndc.nato.int\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11714"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ndc.nato.int\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11714"},{"taxonomy":"post_badge","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ndc.nato.int\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/post_badge?post=11714"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}