Lieutenant General Remigijus Baltrėnas, Director General of the International Military Staff (DGIMS), has visited NATO’s Joint Force Command Naples, the NATO Strategic Direction-South Hub and the NATO Defense College in a two-day trip to Italy.
Baltrėnas met Lieutenant General Rodolfo Sganga, Chief of Staff at Joint Force Command (JFC) Naples, and received updates on security issues linked to NATO’s southern flank, cooperation with the “Southern Neighbourhood”, and progress on NATO’s missions in Kosovo and Iraq, the alliance press service informed on Thursday night.
“Allies understand the significant impact that instability in the southern neighbourhood have on NATO overall, shared security,” Baltrėnas said, adding that JFC Naples’ contribution to safeguarding NATO’s southern flank was “absolutely critical.”
JFC Naples is one of three Joint Force Commands in NATO’s command structure and is responsible for planning and conducting military operations within the Supreme Allied Commander Europe’s area of responsibility and beyond.
Briefings on Africa, the Middle East and senior NATO training
Baltrėnas also visited NATO’s Strategic Direction-South Hub in Naples, which NATO said works to improve the alliance’s understanding of political, economic and social dynamics in Africa and the Middle East through cooperation and dialogue with regional actors.
The trip concluded in Rome with a visit to the NATO Defense College, led by Lieutenant General Max A.L.T. Nielsen, where discussions covered senior-level education programmes, trends in modern warfare and approaches to training future strategic leaders.
The NATO Defense College has trained more than 9,000 officers over its history, many of whom later held strategic-level leadership roles, Baltrėnas said in the NATO briefing.
