Cooperative Lancer/Longbow 2008 Initial Planning Conference
The Initial Planning Conference (IPC) of Cooperative Lancer/Longbow 2008 NATO exercise started in Yerevan on 29 January 2008. The purpose of the exercise proper is cooperation in the security sector and sharing of the experience.
Colonel General Seyran Ohanyan, First Deputy Defense Minister and Chief of General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Republic of Armenia (RA), and Brigadier General Claudio Verchellotti, Deputy Chief of Staff of Allied Land Component Command Heidelberg, greeted the participants and gave the opening speeches.
“Maneuvers in Armenia have become a tradition. Best Effort exercise was held in 2003, it was followed by Rescuer and then by Combined Endeavor in 2006. With its extent and a number of participants, Cooperative Longbow/Lancer exercise will be the major one in the South Caucasus,” RA Armed Forces Chief of General Staff Seyran Ohanyan said in his opening remarks. He declared that Armenia highly appreciated NATO’s role in ensuring security in Europe as well as the efforts of the alliance to guarantee stability in the South Caucasian region.
In his turn, Brigade General Claudio Ernesto Vercellotti said that the preparation works were launched in the late 2007. “The conference aims at raising awareness of our requirements and needs. The participants aspire to conduct the maneuvers on a par with the highest standards,” he said. More than 1,000 servicemen will participate in the military exercises. These exercises, he added, are among the most important arrangements NATO intends to organize in 2008.
Overall 110 militaries of 25 nationalities participated in the conference: 36 from NATO headquarters, 39 representatives from 20 countries already having had expressed their readiness to take part in the exercise and 35 from the Armed Forces of the Republic of Armenia.
Some more information pertaining to the conference is hosted on the PIMS Members Website: Cooperative Lancer/Longbow 2008 IPC materials. Not a PIMS member? Register at https://members.pims.org/user/register.