BRATISLAVA, March 2, (WEBNOVINY) – The Slovak Republic will take part in the CMX 11 NATO crisis management exercise in late March. Countries will train collective defense solutions under Article 5 of the Washington Treaty for the first time ever. The Cabinet approved Slovakia’s participation in the exercise Wednesday. The aim is to exercise NATO crisis management methods at individual staff, commandership and political levels. The fictitious scenario is not targeted against any concrete country, spokesperson for the Defense Ministry Ivan Rudolf has stated.
The experience and recommendations will be used in further development and perfection of NATO crisis management, including real crises and commanding operations. This exercise is a stress test for the security units of each participating state. NATO considers testing the crisis management procedures within collective defense important. Previous exercises focused on different sorts of crises, mainly on peace-keeping missions beyond NATO member states. The scenario of CMX 11 is based on the new NATO strategic concept adopted at the summit in Lisbon.
All twenty-eight member states will take part in the exercise. NATO will also invite non-members Finland and Sweden. Representatives of UN, EU, OSCE and the international committee of the Red Cross will serve as observers. As a rule, CMX exercises take place annually. The eight-day training in 2011 is slated for March 23-30. Defense Minister Lubomir Galko will coordinate the exercise in Slovakia.
SITA