Bundeswehr Operations Command receives NATO Military Committee Chairman
Berlin, 24 June 2011 – On the occasion of his official country visit to Germany, Admiral Giampaolo Di Paola, Chairman of NATO’s Military Committee, visited the Bundeswehr Operations Command in Potsdam after meeting with Mr. Ruediger Wolf, Secretary of State of the Federal Ministry of Defence and General Volker Wieker, Chief of Staff, Bundeswehr.
Arriving in Berlin, the Chairman was welcomed with Military Honours and laid a wreath on behalf of NATO at the Memorial of the Bundeswehr.
During the meetings, discussions focused on NATO operations, NATO reform and the transformation of the Budeswehr. Operation Unified Protector in Libya was the topic of discussion at the colloqium organised by the Stiftung Wissenschaft und Politik (SWP), which is the Institute for International and Security Affairs in Berlin. Participants focused on NATO’s role in Libya and lessons learned, and the challenges ahead.
The NATO Delegation then visited the Einsatzführungskommando of the Bundeswehr Operations Command in Potsdam where Admiral Di Paola was briefed by the Commander, General Rainer Glatz, on Germany’s participation in NATO-led operations. The main focus was Afghanistan and the security situation in the Northern Region in the lead up to the transition to Afghan leadership.
Admiral Di Paola commended the professionalism and efficiency of the German armed forces in NATO operations. He especially praised Germany for their contribution to NATO’s operation in Afghanistan, emphasising the need for NATO and its partners to continue the operation in a coordinated and ordered way.