NATO LIAISON AND ADVISORY TEAM CHANGE OF COMMAND

14th January 2015. Today, the Change of Command ceremony for NATO Liaison and Advisory Team (NLAT) was held in Camp "Film City” KFOR Headquarters in Pristina/Prishtinë. The ceremony marked the handover of command between the outgoing German Brigadier General Peter Braunstein and the incoming German Brigadier General Werner Haumann, as NLAT Director.

The event was attended by KFOR Commander Major General Francesco Paolo Figliuolo and by the Kosovo Security Force leadership, represented by Minister Demolli and General Kastrati. The ceremony was the second since the 28th of March 2014 when this NATO entity was separated from Headquarters KFOR and placed directly under NATO Headquarters in Brussels.

In his speech, General Braunstein summarized his period as NLAT Director by saying: "It has been a great honor and pleasure to serve with the KFOR family in supporting the Kosovo Security Forces. We achieved quite a lot up to now, but there is still work to be done in order to further enhance capacity building and training for the Kosovo Security Forces”.

KFOR Commander expressed, in conclusion, his congratulations for the results achieved by the NLAT, who have performed their tasks in an outstanding way, demonstrating professionalism and competence. General Figliuolo also said: "I would like to underline that thanks to our close relationship and teamwork, I was able to better achieve KFOR´s goals and objectives. I really appreciate our joint efforts that allowed us to proactively organize and plan for possible situational developments and to act as a team in engaging the key leaders and stakeholders in Kosovo. Peter, excellent job and well done”.

General Braunstein, serving as Director of the NLAT since the 29th of August 2014, will take over the command of the German Army Verification Centre in Geilenkirchen, in February. Incoming Director Brigadier General Haumann, who previously served as Head of the Support Branch in the German Air Force Command, will now lead 35 service members and civil personnel, provided by 14 different nations.