PRISTINA - The Commander of KFOR, Major General Franco Federici presided over the ceremony of the Change of Command of the Regional Command West (RC-W), held at the base of Villaggio Italia, the multinational unit under Italian leadership responsible for the western sector of Kosovo.
Colonel Francesco Maioriello, out-going commander for Regional Command – West, transferred command authority to Colonel Andrea Bertazzo, the new commander for RC-West.
The Italian contingent based on the 1st Mountain Artillery Regiment was replaced by the successor contingent based on the 185th Airborne Artillery Regiment "Folgore".
The significant handover of the NATO flag, a formal transfer of responsibility, took place at the presence of the respective decorated war flags framed in the deployment.
The ceremony was attended by the Italian Undersecretary of State for Defence, H.E. Giorgio Mulè and the Commander of Italian Joint Operations Headquaters, LTG Luciano Portolano.
In his address, KFOR Commander expressed appreciation to the contingent coming out for the outstanding results achieved in full compliance with the United Nations resolution 1244 of the international mandate.
Then the NATO and National Authorities extended to the new contingent commander Colonel Andrea Bertazzo the best wishes for a successful mandate, stressing the delicacy of the work carried out by men and women belonging to the Regional Command West, with unit of Austria, Croatia, Moldova, North Macedonia, Poland, Slovenia, Switzerland and Turkey.