Partnership for Peace Consortium conference draws experts from 31 nations
June 14, 2007
Zagreb, Croatia — Security experts from more than 30 nations across the Euro-Atlantic Partnership Council area gathered in Zagreb, Croatia, to explore the role of education in security sector reform and defense institution building during the 9th annual Partnership for Peace Consortium conference June 13-14.
Marshall Center Deputy Director Mr. James Q. Roberts, Representative of the Secretary of Defense, U.S. Mission to the OSCE Powell Moore, Assistant Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Croatia for International Organizations and Security Pjer Simunovic and the Acting Executive Director of the PfP Consortium Henri Bigo during conference opening remarks.
The Consortium co-hosted the event with the Croatian Ministries of Defense, Foreign Affairs and European Integration. Acting Executive Director of the PfP Consortium Henri Bigo welcomed the defense and security policy practitioners and academics and encouraged them to focus on the conference theme, “Strengthening NATO’s Partnerships: the Role of Education in Security Sector Reform and Defense Institution Building.” Three sub-themes were also introduced by moderators and examined by separate panels:
• Defense Education Curriculum—How to Ensure it Produces the Right Results for Partners?
• Civilian Participation in Defense and Security Policy—Creating a Corps of Civilian Defense Professionals
• The PfP Consortium, what role in promoting security sector reform (SSR) and defense institution building (DIB)? Marshall Center Deputy Director James Q. Roberts represented the Chairman of the Consortium Senior Advisory Council and gave opening remarks and introduced the keynote speakers to include Pjer Simunovic, Assistant Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Croatia for International Organizations and Security, and Powell Moore, Representative of the Secretary of Defense, U.S. Mission to the Organization for the Security and Cooperation in Europe.
A “marketplace” was arranged to showcase the programs and achievements of the Consortium’s working and study groups, its editorial board, and its web portal and was part of the conference venue. The marketplace afforded conference participants an opportunity to view the various displays and interact with the working groups and learn more about their on-going projects.
The Consortium’s scholarly publications, including the quarterly journal Connections and the Athena occasional papers, were also available at the marketplace. The Consortium took this opportunity to announce the winner of the Athena Award for the outstanding author in the publications program to Colonel Igor Tarasenko, Ministry of Defense, Russia, for his paper titled "Long-Term Possibilities for NATO-Russia Naval Security Cooperation.”
Text: By Joe Ferrare - George C. Marshall European Center for Security Studies
