CIOR NR-06.03 - September 14, 2006
OTTAWA - By providing essential language training and high-level professional development last month in Eastern Europe, the Interallied Confederation of Reserve Officers (CIOR) forged lasting links, on NATO’s behalf, with former and current Partnership for Peace nations. Two highly successful training opportunities that will serve participating nations’ national and international interests were organized and run through CIOR -- namely the Language Academy held in Romania from 5-19 August, followed by the Partnership for Peace Seminar held in Lithuania from 24-27 August.
The CIOR has been providing language instruction in NATO’s official languages, English and French, since the year 2000 and has matriculated more than 350 officers from every nation of Eastern and Central Europe. Through the Language Academy, these officers are provided an essential and indispensable tool to carry out international NATO business – the ability to communicate in one of NATO’s two official languages.
This year, the language academy attracted 49 active and reserve officers from 14 different NATO and Partnership for Peace nations. In addition, 5 different NATO nations — Canada, the United Kingdom, United States, France, and Romania — provided qualified instructors to teach academy classes. In addition to language instruction, an orientation to NATO and CIOR was provided.
“It’s amazing to see how far students progress during this immersion course. They literally live, eat, and breathe the target language,” said Lieutenant Colonel Michael E. Deibert, acting course director from the United States Air Force Reserve. “Combine this with top-notch instruction, and what results is improved military communication and interoperability between NATO and Partnership for Peace reserve forces,” Deibert added.
A week on the heels of the CIOR Language Academy came the Partnership for Peace Seminar entitled “Defense and Security Issues: The Respective Roles of NATO and the EU”, in which 75 reserve officers from 17 new NATO and Partner nations participated.
An annual event, the Partnership for Peace Seminar is designed to develop knowledge and understanding of the NATO Alliance, as well as to gain better understanding of the structure and organization of reserve forces and associations within the Alliance.
This activity in support of Partner nations is well aligned with NATO’s objectives of cooperation, partnership and inclusion. In that vein, this year’s seminar was geared toward countries in NATO’s Membership Action Plan -- nations that have applied to join NATO but are still awaiting approval, which include Croatia, Albania and the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM).
“CIOR is justifiably proud of its high calibre and cost-effective programs. These training opportunities benefit individual reservists, their member nations, and NATO as a whole,” said CIOR’s Canadian President, Captain (Navy) Carman McNary. “These are unique opportunities for NATO reservists, and they foster professional development and situational awareness of contemporary reserve issues affecting the NATO Alliance and its Partners,” he added.
CIOR is the world’s largest military reserve officer organization, representing more than 1.3 million reservists across 34 participating nations. The organization aims to promote knowledge and understanding related to the employment of reserve forces and to develop the interests of reserve officers in an international environment, while promoting solidarity within the Atlantic Alliance. CIOR has been under Canadian leadership since July 2006.
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For further information, please call Major Lynne Chaloux, CIOR Presidency Public Affairs Advisor, at 613-996-2183 or 613-220-8984. Further information on CIOR and its professional development opportunities can be found at http://www.cior.net/.
