It has been more than a year since the highest-ranking Danish General Hans Jesper Helsø, Danish Chief of Defence, assisted in the ceremony of handing over of duties to the present Commander Headquarters Multinational Corps Northeast (HQ MNC NE), Lieutenant General Zdzisław Goral. Yesterday, on 13th January 2008, General Hans Jesper Helsø completed his four-day visit to Szczecin and the HQ MNC NE.
Since Denmark is one of the three Framework Nations that not only founded the Corps in 1999 but also has been contributing to deciding upon the Corps’ future being part of the Corps Committee, no wonder that General Helsø was interested in getting acquainted with all Corps-related issues. A rich programme of the visit was prepared for General Helsø in order to meet these expectations. Lieutenant General Zdzisław Goral, Commander HQ MNC NE, Major General Jan Brun Andersen, Deputy Commander HQ MNC NE, and Brigadier General Josef Heinrichs, Chief of Staff HQ MNC NE, welcomed and assisted General Helsø making sure that first-hand information was presented to him. An important topic was a recent ISAF mission in Afghanistan, in which the MNC NE personnel, also Danish soldiers, participated. Furthermore, the future of the Corps was mentioned, among others the issues related to trainings and exercises, manning or widening multinational character of the Corps.
A lot of attention was paid to the city of Szczecin as a home garrison for the Headquarters Multinational Northeast. General Helsø met Mr. Piotr Krzystek, the Mayor of Szczecin and talked among others about the situation of Danish community in Szczecin. The mission time was mentioned, during which Danish families felt like at home here in Szczecin and that was really appreciated. Moreover, General Helsø took part in a sightseeing tour on the Odra River during which he could see the most beautiful places in the city – “Wały Chrobrego” and Szczecin Harbour. The idea of “only for a connoisseur” motivated a visit to POLMOS distillery, where for example famous age-old “Starka” brandies are produced.
Obviously, General Helsø’s visit would not be complete without time spent together with the Danish community serving at the Headquarters. Therefore there was enough time for both formal and informal meetings, during which all Danish matters could have been discussed.
