SEESAC Takes Part in the 36th SEDM – CC Meeting in Izmir, Turkey
SEESAC participated in the 36th South East Europe Defence Ministerial Coordination Committee (SEDM-CC) Meeting held in Izmir, Turkey on 29 and 30 March 2017. Participants discussed future SEDM developments, made a SEDM Strategic Review and provided an update on SEDM projects.
SEESAC presented accomplishments made under the Decision 2013/730/CFSP of the Council of the European Union (EU) in support of SEESAC Disarmament and Arms Control Activities in South East Europe, and future plans set out in the new Council Decision 2016/2356 in the framework of the EU Strategy to combat illicit accumulation and trafficking of SALW and their ammunition.
SEESAC Gender Project Coordinator also thanked the region’s Ministries of Defence (MoD) for helping deliver the Gender Training of Trainers (GTOT) Course for representatives of the Armed Forces from Sub Sharan Africa organized in December 2016. “By providing gender trainers, the MoDs of Western Balkans enabled information sharing and transfer of experience to the African region, and promoted the region’s strong capacity for advancing gender equality in the security sector”, she said.
The SEDM-CC meeting convened 14 representatives of participating nations (Tirana, Sarajevo, Sofia, Zagreb, Tbilisi, Athens, Rome, Podgorica, Bucharest, Belgrade, Ljubljana, Skopje, Ankara, and Kiev), as well as representatives of international and regional organizations (UNDP, RACVIAC, and RCC). This is the last SEDM CC meeting held under the Turkish chairmanship (2015 -2017).
The SEDM Process was launched at a meeting of defense ministers in Tirana, in 1996, with the aim of promoting regional political and military cooperation, to strengthen peace, security and stability in the South-Eastern Europe. The next annual DCHOD meeting will be hosted by Montenegro in June 2017.