Category: Military

The decision to open the Office, which will be the Alliance’s first diplomatic office in the Middle East, was announced in July 2024 at the NATO Summit in Washington D.C. It builds on three decades of deep-rooted bilateral relations between NATO and Jordan, and on the recent decisions taken by Allied leaders to strengthen NATO’s approach towards the southern neighbourhood. This includes increasing presence and visibility in the region in the framework of the Southern Neighbourhood Action Plan.

The NATO Liaison Office will bring NATO and Jordan even closer together, enhancing political dialogue, practical cooperation and shared understanding of the regional context. It will also contribute to the development and implementation of partnership programmes and activities, particularly in support of Jordan’s Defence Capacity Building (DCB) Initiative, among other projects.

The signature of the agreement will be followed by the upcoming opening of the NLO in Amman. This builds on a year of significant accomplishments in the NATO-Jordan partnership, including Special Representative Colomina’s visit to Amman last November, and last week’s visit of the Partnerships and Cooperative Security Committee to Jordan.

In a session titled “Transatlantic Defence: Who Pays? Who Acts?,” moderated by Claudia Major, Senior Vice President of the GMF, the Deputy Secretary General emphasised that European and US defence efforts must remain transatlantic and complementary. In addition, Ms Shekerinska highlighted that European Allies and Canada are “taking more responsibility and this will make the Alliance a more formidable military partnership.”

She outlined that the upcoming Summit in the Hague will create the grounds for a stronger, better, fairer and even more lethal NATO.

The Brussels Forum is an annual event organised by the German Marshall Fund (GMF) of the United States. The Deputy Secretary General participated in an on-stage conversation with other panellists, including  Andrius Kubilius, Commissioner for Defence and Space at the European Commission, Maria Malmer Stenergard, Swedish Minister for Foreign Affairs and Nadia Calviño, President of the European Investment Bank.
 

For the first time as Chair of COMEDS, Brigadier General Petter Iversen (Norway) welcomed participants, underscoring the importance of this meeting as a turning point for the medical community: “Over the past months, we have elevated the profile of the medical support domain across the Alliance. Now we must demonstrate that COMEDS is not only visible, but also influential and impactful.”

In his keynote address, Major General Luc Vanbockryck, Director of the NATO International Military Staff’s Logistics & Resources Division, echoed this call for transformation, highlighting that: “Civilian plans for energy, transport, communications, and medical support must connect seamlessly to our regional defence plans, so that a shock to one sector does not paralyse the rest. Logistics and medicine share one purpose: safeguarding people so that strategy can succeed.”

A core focus of the 63rd Plenary was the implementation of the NATO Medical Action Plan (MAP), with a special session dedicated to COMEDS restructure, in order to best align the Committee with the scope of the MAP and COMEDS’ core mission.

Additionally, like previous plenary’s, a session was dedicated to Ukraine, where views, lessons identified and best practices on military medical capabilities were exchanged.

COMEDS remains NATO’s highest military medical authority, providing strategic advice to the Military Committee and helping ensure the Alliance is medically prepared for today’s threats and tomorrow’s challenges. The 63rd Plenary reaffirmed COMEDS’ role as a driver of readiness and a critical enabler of NATO’s collective defence posture.