February 7, the main NATO training event - NATO Training Synchronization Conference- annually organised in one of the NATO countries by the NATO Supreme Allied Command Transformation (SACT). The opening of the conference was attended by SACT Commander Gen Stephane Abrial, Chief of Defence of the Lithuanian Armed Forces Lt Gen Arvydas Pocius and Chief of Staff of SACT Lt Gen Karlheinz Viereck.
During the opening of the conference Lithuanian Chief of Defence Lt Gen A. Pocius said that successful operation in the mission area requires interoperability with the allies, unified thinking and work which we will achieve through aligned training programmes. "The conference is intended to facilitate the synchronization of training of member countries and cultivation of a unified approach to military training", said the Chief of Defence of Lithuania.
During the conference Gen S.Abrial stressed that training is one of the key elements of the Alliance's transformation which will incapacitate all the NATO countries to exploit their resources efficiently and develop national defence capabilities. Supreme Allied Commander Transformation also pointed out the influence of military training and education on the number of killed NATO troops during multinational operations in 2011.
The Training Synchronization Conference held in Lithuania integrates four conferences on the allied exercise and warfare training: the NATO Training and Exercise Planning Conference, the NATO Individual Training and Education Conference, the meeting of the Steering Group NATO Training Group (SGNTG) and the NATO Education Forum.
The main attention of the conference will be focused on the alignment and improvement of warfare training, education and evaluation programmes in NATO and partner countries which will enable a more efficient usage of resources for training national forces of the allies. An equally important aim of the event is to generate proposals regarding the restructuring of military training in the Alliance and enhancing NATO communication with national military training and education centers.
Photos by Alfredas Plaidis (MOD).
The main photo: Lt Gen K. Viereck,Gen Stephane Abrial, Lt Gen A. Pocius
