On 3-4 December, Lieutenant General Sławomir Wojciechowski chaired the 3rd Multinational Corps Northeast Commander’s Conference. During the two-day symposium, decision-makers from across NATO worked on increasing interoperability between the troops deployed to the Baltic region.
The conference brought together numerous officials representing the Corps’ framework nations, NATO headquarters, and the NATO units stationed in Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia and Poland, including the Commanders of Multinational Divisions North East and North.
“Whatever happens to the Baltic nations happens to all of us. Therefore, NATO is coming back to its roots, shifting from expeditionary missions to deterrence and defence at home.” – Lieutenant General Sławomir Wojciechowski, Commander of Multinational Corps Northeast, emphasized the vital role of an aligned approach to regional security in his opening remarks.
It was repeatedly stated that deterrence ought to be based on credible military capabilities and close integration of provided assets. “In order to do it effectively and efficiently, we need cohesion of forces and unity of command.” – General Wojciechowski continued.
This aim is to be furthered by affiliating appointed national brigades with the Corps or its subordinate multinational divisions. This is yet another measure bound to consolidate the security architecture in the region, especially within the framework of the enhanced Forward Presence (eFP). As the eFP consists exclusively of land troops, it is imperative that NATO focus on joint enablement. Thus, the conference advocated cooperation with other military components and the fostering of cross-domain partnerships.
When discussing the expected development path, the stakeholders emphasized how important it was to translate operational concepts into tactical-level requirements and make them comprehensible to everyone in the chain of command. This, in turn, should result in optimizing the capabilities of the NATO forces in the Baltic region.
The working week at Baltic Barracks culminated with the 6th NATO Force Integration Unit (NFIU) Commanders’ Conference held on 4-5 December. The meeting served as an opportunity to revise the role of NFIUs in strengthening security across Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Hungary and Slovakia. It was widely agreed that they are increasing the speed and strength of NATO when it comes to deterrence, defence and crisis response.