NAC APPROVED NATO ENSEC COE

Today the North-Atlantic Council approved the accreditation of the Energy Security Centre of Excellence (ENSEC COE) in Lithuania as a NATO Centre of Excellence and its activation as an International Military Organization.

The mission of the NATO ENSEC COE is to assist NATO, Nations, Partners and other bodies by supporting NATO’s capability development process, mission effectiveness and interoperability by providing comprehensive and timely expertise on aspects of energy security.

The NATO ENSEC COE was established on July 10, 2012 by Estonia, France, Italy, Latvia and Turkey as Sponsoring Nations and Lithuania as the Framework Nation. This was the result of the two-year intensive and targeted preparatory work undertaken by the Energy Security Center in Lithuania in cooperation with the HQ SACT in Norfolk, VA and Emerging Security Challenges Division of NATO’s IS in Brussels. The new Centre of Excellence will have headquarters on the campus of the General Jonas Žemaitis Military Academy of Lithuania and Col Romualdas Petkevičius as Director. Col Petkevičius has had a distinguished carrier in the Lithuanian Army including assignments as the Defence, Military, Air and Naval Attaché to the United States and Canada and the National Military Representative (NMR) of Lithuania to Supreme headquarters Allied Powers Europe (SHAPE) and is therefore uniquely qualified to lead an International Military Organization. The Steering Committee of the NATO ENSEC COE has already approved of the Program of Work for the year 2013 and has invited Sponsoring Nations to man, fund and support the NATO ENSEC COE as agreed upon in the Memoranda of Understanding on the establishment of the said COE.

Lithuania as the Framework Nation will honour its commitments and will ensure that the NATO ENSEC COE meets the expectations and trust of the North Atlantic Council. The new Centre of Excellence will be a valuable instrument in the process of building defence capabilities and achieving the goals of the NATO Forces 2020 as they have been set forth in the Chicago Summit of 2012.