Multinational Corps Northeast

Lieutenant General Zdzisław Goral, Commander of the Multinational Corps Northeast (MNC NE), represented the Corps during the Bilateral Land Component Command Corps Commanders’ Conference, which took place from 06th to 08th October 2009 in Istanbul, Turkey.

It was the second Commanders’ Conference that was held this year. The conference was organized by Allied Land Component Command Headquarters Madrid, co-chaired by COM Component Command-Land Heidelberg and co-hosted by COM NATO Rapid Deployable Corps Turkey, with its new Commander, Lieutenant General Hulusi Akar.
Among the participants of the conference there were Lieutenant General Cayetano Miró Valls, Commander of the Allied Land Component Command – Madrid, Lieutenant General Kather, Commander of the Allied Land Component Command – Heidelberg, commanders of different NATO commands including Lieutenant General Zdzisław Goral, Commander of the MNC NE, representatives of the Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe, Allied Command Transformation and Joint Forces Command Brunssum as well as adjutants, spouses and others.

The main aim of the conference was to familiarize the Commanders with the most current trends and developments within NATO and to exchange information on issues commands are working on in particular. Therefore, the conference included both briefing parts and discussions.

Like during the previous conferences the issue of Deployable Joint Staff Element (DJSE) was discussed, after a briefing by Lieutenant General Kather, who tried to underline the importance of this element for future NATO missions. Currently NATO is able to build 2 DJSE, one in theatre and one in reserve.
Other topics, the participants were briefed on, were Multinational Logistics, Multiple Future Programmes, Movement Visibility and the new ISAF HQ and NATO Response Forces (NRF) rotation from the point of view of  Allied Land Component Command – Madrid.
The ISAF mission in Afghanistan drew a lot of attention of the conference participants. The new Commander of the EUROCORPS, Lieutenant General Hans-Lothar Domroese, reported about his experiences and his assessment of the ISAF-mission, during his tour as Chief of Staff HQ ISAF, in 2008. He focused on the current political and military situation as well as the importance of the change of thinking: away from the governmental level – to the provincial level.

Apart from briefings, discussions and exchange of views, there was a social programme organized for the participants of the conference, which included among other things a visit of the Dolmabahce Palace as well as a visit of the Military Museum.

The next Corps Commanders’ Conference is going to take place in the first week of February 2010 in Strasbourg.