Canadian Chief of Defence Staff Concludes NATO Military Comittee Meeting

Canada’s Chief of the Defence Staff, General Tom Lawson, along with his North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) counterparts, yesterday concluded the NATO Military Committee meeting in Vilnius, Lithuania.

This meeting provided NATO’s Chiefs of Defence the opportunity to discuss the military outcomes and deliverables from the NATO Summit that was held earlier this month in Newport, Wales, and was attended by Prime Minister Harper, Defence Minister Rob Nicholson, and General Lawson.

Discussions at this NATO Military Committee meeting included:

• The evolving global security environment and the implications for NATO;
• Updates on the Alliance’s reassurance efforts in Central and Eastern Europe;
• The implementation of the Readiness Action Plan, including preliminary discussions on the development of the Very High Readiness Joint Task Force, as announced in Wales and supported by Canada; and,
• Briefings on the situation in Iraq and Syria and the threats emanating from that region.

General Lawson highlighted Canada’s quick action in committing a range of capabilities to reassure their Central and Eastern European Allies, and recent materiel and financial assistance provided to Ukraine and Iraq to help them deal with their respective security challenges. In addition to this, he reiterated Canada’s support for NATO’s longer-term reassurance efforts, including the Alliance’s Readiness Action Plan announced at the Summit.

General Lawson also toured the Siauliai Air Base in Lithuania, visiting with members of Canada’s Air Task Force who are contributing to NATO’s Baltic Air Policing Mission.

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Press Release, September 22, 2014; Image: Canadian MoD