NATO Liaison Office Skopje (NLO Sk) continued official visits to commands and units in the country with a visit to the Water Training Centre (WTC) in Ohrid on the 4th of November.

Navy Captain Gorazd Bartol, NLO Sk Chief, led a delegation of NLO Sk to the WTC camp and was welcomed by the Commander of the Water Training Centre, Major Budzakovski, and Training and Doctrine Command representative Major Kostadinov.

 

NLO Sk delivered a short briefing on the mission and tasks, organizational structure, available personnel, and most significant activities of the office.

On their side, WTC provided a briefing on their structure, manning, mission and challenges that they are currently facing, as well as their future plans. The unit is equipped with two patrol boats and three speedboats. Their main focus is to develop training in accordance with NATO standards, as well as to upgrade their capacitiy for rescue missions. The WTC facilities are used by Army and Police units for training, mainly in diving, basic rowing and sailing techniques. The unit does not have a pool of instructors, which is in the main focus of their future plans. The necessity of modernization of equipment is closely related to their water rescue activities, which are an important and inevitable part of their daily work on the shores of lake Ohrid, especially during the summer period.

NLO Sk will continue with visits to more formations until the end of the current year, to emphasize that joint efforts and close cooperation are very beneficial to the achievement of the country’s NATO-oriented goals.