On Saturday, September 29, 2018, the HNDGS Chief, Admiral Evangelos Apostolakis HN participated in the NATO Military Committee Conference in Chief of Defence Session in Warsaw, Poland.

The issues discussed at the conference included:

  • Overview of the Alliance’s current operations, missions and actions.
  • Contribution of the Military Committee to the elaboration of the “Political Guidance 2019” and the configuration of the “NATO’s Military Strategy”.
  • Overhaul of the Alliance’s Readiness, Response and Reinforcement of the Military Section.
  • Alliance Modernization, the NATO Command Structure Adaptation and the NATO Headquarters’ Functional Review.
  • The preparation of the next session, at the level of Defence Ministers.

HNDGS Chief pointed out that:

  • Facing current security challenges makes it imperative for the Alliance to develop synergies with regional and international actors.
  • Further active use of the Alliance’s training entities will decisively promote the Alliance’s collaborative actions and initiatives.
  • Sharing operational demands can be achieved through greater coherence between NATO – EU – UN and other international institutions and initiatives, notably in the Crisis Management and cooperative Security domains.
  • Enhanced NATO-EU defence cooperation is needed on the basis of complementarity and optimal use of the resources available.
  • In achieving the highest degree of readiness, Alliance’s Command Structure should adapt to Force Structure, based on the Member States’ capabilities for contribution.

On the sidelines of the conference, the HNDGS Chief met with:

  • Chief of the Turkish Armed Forces General Staff, General Yasar Guler. HNDGS Chief pointed out to his counterpart that Turkish Armed Forces must refrain from illegal actions in the Aegean and that migratory flows to the East Aegean islands and Evros should be contained.
  • Other counterparts, Supreme Allied Command Europe (SACEUR), General Curtis Scaparrotti, Supreme Allied Command Transformation (SACT), General Andre Lanata, and the Chairman of NATO Military Committee, Air Chief Marshal Sir Stuart Peach.