On Tuesday, 21 February 2006, a trilateral, ministerial meeting took place in the Headquarters Multinational Corps Northeast in Szczecin. The Minister of Defence of Poland – Radek Sikorski, the Minister of Defence of Denmark – Soeren Gade and the Minister of Defence of Germany – Dr. Franz Josef Jung discussed – among others topics – the conditions for the deployment of the Headquarters MNC NE to Afghanistan in 2007.
In the statement announced after the meeting the Defence Ministers expressed their satisfaction with the successful certification and achievement by HQ MNC NE of Full Operational Capability. The Ministers expressed their appreciation of the work by the staff of HQ MNC NE and praised their commitment and professionalism.
The Defence Ministers recalled that Denmark, Germany and Poland decided at their meeting in Szczecin on 3 February 2005 to provide HQ MNC NE as HQ ISAF from August 2007.
As a follow-up of the informal NATO Defence Ministers meeting in Taormina this month, it seems likely that a transition of the ISAF HQ-model towards a composite HQ-model will be initiated, taking the different roles of the two operations ISAF and OEF into account.
The Ministers of Defence from Denmark, Germany and Poland expressed their continued support for using HQ MNC NE in the biggest possible role in the NATO-led ISAF operation in Afghanistan in 2007.
The Defence Ministers requested their Chiefs of Defence, as well as the Chairman of the Corps Committee to approach the NATO military authorities in order to present this proposal and to work out detailed arrangements.
The Defence Ministers agreed to review the status at the upcoming 3 + 3 ministerial meeting in Riga on 21 March 2006.
The Defence Ministers finally reaffirmed the will to use HQ MNC NE in operations in order to take advantage of the capabilities that the staff of HQ MNC NE has achieved.
