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RIGA, Latvia – During the 6th Multinational Corps Northeast Commander’s (MNC NE) Conference held on 7-9 November in Riga, NATO regional commanders from across the Baltic Sea area alongside other NATO Allies discussed a wide range of deterrence and defence objectives on the Alliance’s northeastern flank. The participating commanders highlighted NATO’s continued ability and commitment to defend every inch of the Allied territory. 

The conference was chaired by Commander Multinational Corps Northeast Lieutenant General Jürgen-Joachim von Sandrart, responsible for land operations in northeastern Europe. The commanders representing the MNC NE chain of command, including from Multinational Divisions North, located in Ādaži, Latvia, and Multinational Division North East, located in Elbląg, Poland, the respective land forces brigades and NATO Force Integration Units (NFIU), discussed ways of integrating their commands' capabilities in order to ensure NATO's rapid responsiveness and to meet security challenges today and in the future. 

The 6th MNC NE Commander's Conference provided an opportunity for NATO's regional leaders to consolidate their common stance on the Allied deterrence and, if need be, defence in the Baltic Sea region; photo 1: CAPT (N) Peeter Ivask, Commander NFIU Estonia, photo 2: COL (A) Peter Nielsen, Commander NFIU Lithuania / Photos by NFIU Latvia Public Affairs Office 

Asked about the MNC NE readiness to defend NATO’s northeastern border von Sandrart stated: "We are the NATO headquarters with a clearly defined area of responsibility and affiliated subordinate forces at the division-, brigade- and battalion-level. We fuse the defence plans of the individual countries into a common defence plan in order to be able to effectively defend the Alliance’s territory should the need arise. Our responsibility is to guarantee a convincing defence capability and to provide an effective deterrence." Drawing his remarks to a close, the MNC NE Commander emphasized:

We can, we want and we will defend every inch of NATO territory within the Multinational Corps Northeast area of responsibility.

The conference took place in the Lavtian National Armed Forces Joint Headquarters and was chaired by LTG Jürgen-Joachim von Sandrart, Commander MNC NE / Photo by NFIU Latvia Public Affairs Office

Additionally, the conference saw representatives from Multinational Corps South East, Multinational Division Center, the German 1st and 10th Armoured Divisions, the U.S. 1st Infantry Division and V Corps.

Headquarters Multinational Corps Northeast provides the unity of command for NATO activities across Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia and Poland. As the highest NATO land forces command in the region, the Corps Headquarters was delegated the responsibility to execute the command and control of NATO ground troops on the northeastern flank of the Alliance, including those already deployed.