MILCOOP in KUWAIT
By LTC Tore Bade ( NOR ), LAND- COM
In November , LANDCOM MilCoop supported a JFCNP-led NATO delegation , to Kuwait to conduct a NATO Expert Staff Meeting ( ESM ). The NATO team consisted of representatives from various NATO headquarters that have partnership activities with Kuwait , including JFC Naples Military Partnership Branch , the NATO International Staff and LANDCOM Military Cooperation Branch . The team was received at the Kuwaiti Armed Forces Headquarters by Brigadier General Amhad Al Khalaf , Director of Military Cooperation , and other personnel from across the Kuwaiti Armed Forces , including senior leaders from the Kuwaiti Land , Air , Naval and Air Defense Forces .
Brigadier General Ahmad Al Khalaf opened the meeting by welcoming the NATO team and the opportunity to receive an update on NATO programs . Topics of discussion ranged across a review of 2017 partnership activities , LANDCOM and its partnership capabilities , Operational Capability Concept , NATO-Istanbul Coopera- tion Initiative ( ICI ) Regional Centre and finally 2018-2019 partnership activities available to Kuwait . Additionally , NATO presented Kuwait with an in-depth briefing of the NSD-S Hub to highlight NATO ’ s newest capability following its recent inauguration . LTC Tore Bade , MilCoop Branch Head , LANDCOM provided an
initial presentation of LANDCOM and its Partner activities , followed by an indepth presentation of the OCC programme . Kuwait is currently considering whether to join NATOs OCC programme .
The NATO military partnership with Kuwait has seen a steady growth in numbers of Kuwait Armed Forces personnel participating in NATO activities over the last several years . In fact , in 2017 , Kuwait had a record number of Kuwaiti military personnel receiving NATO training since the beginning of the 13-year partnership . Brig . Gen . Kloss who led the NATO delegation , highlighted the increase in participation and encouraged Kuwait to continue the trend . The meeting was very successful overall , with open and fruitful discussions resulting in a better understanding of what still needs to be done to continue the partnership growth trend between NATO and Kuwait .
After the meeting , Kuwaiti Armed Forces took the NATO delegation to visit the recently inaugurated NATO-ICI Regional Centre . This facility was constructed by Kuwait , solely for the use of partnership activities between NATO and the ICI partner nations ( Bahrain , Kuwait , Qatar and UAE ). Since the beginning of formal activities in the Centre two months ago , NATO has conducted two Mobile Training Teams led by JFC Naples J7 Training-Exercise and J9 Civil-Military Cooperation Sections , respectively .
22LAND POWER