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The SEDM Process and MPFSEE Initiative in Brief In the aftermath of the tumultuous experiences of the last decade and following NATO-led missions that aimed building as well as maintaining peace and security in Southeast Europe, a consideration for a necessity of a consistent regional cooperation mechanism in this region emerged in the international society. Hence came forward the Southeast Europe Defense Ministerial (SEDM) Process, which began with a meeting of Ministers of Defense held in Tirana in March 1996, first of a series of meetings that convened the Ministers of Defense, Deputy Ministers of Defense and Deputy Chiefs of Defense of nations of Southeast Europe. Activities undertaken within the context of the SEDM Process have developed the security of Southeast Europe by three major ways; promoting regional cooperation and good neighborly relations, strengthening regional defense capabilities as well as cooperation through collective efforts and last but not least, establishing links facilitating integration into Euro-Atlantic institutions. Among the SEDM
initiatives, one that carries the most significant prominence is the
Multinational Peace Force Southeast Europe (MPFSEE), established with
the MPFSEE Agreement signed in Skopje on the 26th of September 1998
and also known as SEEBRIG. The initiative involves a brigade which
consists of a land force that will act in an on-call basis and has
its Nucleus Staff already in action in its Headquarters located in
Constanta, Romania since 2003, where it will remain until 2007. The
first location of SEEBRIG HQ was Plovdiv, Bulgaria for the period
between 1999 through 2003 and the next one for the period of 2007-
2011 is planned to be Istanbul, Turkey, from where it will move to
Kilkis, Greece for the period of 2011-2015. The present Commander
of SEEBRIG (COMSEEBRIG) is Bulgarian Brigadier General Neyko Nenov,
successor of Italian Brigadier General Giovanni Sulis, who commanded
the SEEBRIG after the Greek Brigadier General Andreas Kouzelis. The
first commander of SEEBRIG was Turkish Major General Hilmi Akin Zorlu. According to the MPFSEE Agreement, SEEBRIG will be employed in conflict prevention and in other peace support operations, including peace-keeping, peace-making, peace-building and humanitarian operations. A possible deployment of the brigade will be UN or OSCE-mandated and NATO or EU-led. SEEBRIG has conducted successfully the NATO evaluation process regarding the sufficiency of its capabilities for being deployed in PSOs. After the certification process was completed SEEBRIG was offered a mission in ISAF. The mission offer from DSACEUR is to fill the requirements of MNB for the period February-July 2006. On the other hand, efforts of providing SEEBRIG with capabilities of participating in disaster relief operations are presently evolving within the framework of a PMSC Project called Employment of SEEBRIG in Disaster Relief Operations (SEDRO). Noting that initiatives and activities in the SEDM context have gradually increased and therefore desiring to establish an appropriate structure in the framework of SEDM for the coordination of the initiatives and activities as a whole, SEDM nations created the SEDM Coordination Committee (SEDM-CC) with an agreement that was signed in Thessaloniki on the 9th of October 2000. Member nations of SEDM-CC are the member and observer nations of PMSC in whole. A number of projects are carried out within the context of SEDM-CC: - The Defence/Military Support to Weapons of Mass Destruction Counter-Proliferation, Border Security and Counter-Terrorism (CBSC) Project; - Cooperation on Defence Industries, Research and Technology (SEEDIRET); - Setellite Interconnection of Military Hospitals (SIMIHO); - South Eastern Europe Simulation Network (SEESIM). The nation which holds the Chairmanships of the committees also sustains the SEDM-CC and PMSC Secretariat. The present chairman of SEDM-CC and PMSC is Prof.Dr. Besnik Baraj from Albania, successor of Ambassador Ugur Ergun from Turkey. The first two consequent chairmen were Ambassador Nicolaos Dimadis from Greece and Mr. Ovidiu Dranga from Romania. FYR of Macedonia* will take over the Chairmanship of SEDM-CC and PMSC in 2007. Nations' delegations to SEDM-CC and PMSC meet regularly twice a year in meetings hosted by the nation which holds the Chairmanships of the committees. Having holding the Chairmanships for the period between 2003 and 2005, Turkey hosted the 9th SEDM-CC and 10th PMSC Meetings in Istanbul, 10th SEDM-CC and 11th PMSC Meetings in Ankara and 11th SEDM-CC and 12th PMSC Meetings in Istanbul and is planning to host the12th SEDM-CC and 13th PMSC Meetings in Izmir. The next meetings of PMS and SEDM-CC will be held in Albania on 27-29 September 2005. In these meetings, preparatory efforts are carried out for the high-level meetings, which are held diversely in member countries. Ministers of Defense and Deputy Chiefs of Defense meet annually in these high-level meetings. The latest meetings of Deputy Chiefs of Defense and Ministers of Defense were held in Skopje, FYR Macedonia* on the 12th of May 2005 and in Ljubljana, Slovenia on the 5th of November 2004, respectively. The next meeting of the Ministers’ of Defense is to be held in Washington D.C USA, on the 07 December 2005. In the 13th PMSC and 12th SEDM-CC meetings Ukraine was accepted as the full member to MPFSEE initiative and relevant activities. Moldova and Ukraine, both participate to the meetings of Ministers of Defense with observer status while Ukraine does so in meetings of Deputy Chiefs of Defense as well. Major
tasks of the SEDM-CC and PMSC Secretariat are to provide secretariat
service to all of the mentioned meetings and to manage as well as
to keep the correspondence and archives of both of the committees.
Personnel from the Albanian Ministry of Defense are presently working
in the premises of the SEDM-CC and PMSC Secretariat located in the
Ministry of Defense of Albania.
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