DOHA, QATAR - In parallel to the first NATO evaluation of the Qatari 101st Airlift Squadron, JFC Naples conducted also the sixth and final Regional Collective Training Event Planning Workshop.
It took place from 14-24 November, in Doha, Qatar at the well-utilized Qatari Joint Warfare Training Center, a candidate for Partnership Training Education Community Accreditation.
The Qatari Armed Forces Chief of Staff Lieutenant General Salem bin Hamad bin Mohammed bin Aqeel Al Nabit and Chief of Military Training Authority, Major General Jassim Al-Mohannadi along with Single service Commanders and the Moroccan Chief Inspector of the Infantry to Royal Armed Forces, Major General Fouad Aki attended the Regional Exercise (REGEX) 23 Visitors Day on 22 Nov, celebrating the culmination and conclusion of REGEX 23.
Assistant Chief of Staff J9 JFC Naples, Brigadier General Dieter Kohl highlighted the importance of REGEX for enhancing regional cooperation, peace, and stability, and for strengthening NATO’s ties with partners. Regional Exercise 2023 provided ample opportunities for building trust, confidence, cultural awareness and empathy as the superpowers of partnering.
Senior leaders addressed the participants with gratitude for their achievements, for enhancing their knowledge of the NATO exercise planning process, and for the successful completion of the exercise framework consisting of six workshops across 2023.
ACOS J9 presented the JFCNP gift to Qatari Armed Forces Chief of Staff .
REGEX 23 concluded in a Command Post Exercise (CPX) execution with a Composite Brigade Headquarters serving as target audience and trained within a Peace Support Operation scenario.
A training team from Allied Joint Force Command Naples mentored along the REGEX road map (begun in January 2023) 26 participants from 12 Partner Nations: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Austria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Colombia, Egypt, Georgia, Jordan, Morocco, Moldova, Pakistan, Tunisia, and Uzbekistan. The partners, representing all four NATO partnership frameworks (Istanbul Cooperation Initiative (ICI), Mediterranean Dialogue (MD), Partnership for Peace (PfP) and Partners Across the Globe (PatG) worked alongside 58 officers from the host nation, Qatar.
The Regional Exercise (REGEX) program is a NATO-supported opportunity for partner nations to plan and conduct an exercise from beginning to end, while meeting their own unique training requirements. It involves a designated partner nation acting as host, inviting all other NATO Partners to participate in the planning and execution of a national exercise, while NATO provides support to the exercise planning process.
The State of Qatar graciously offered to serve as the host nation for REGEX 23, adding to the robust list of previous host nations including, Bosnia and Herzegovina (REGEX 16), Jordan (REGEX 17), Serbia (REGEX 18), North Macedonia (REGEX 19), and Morocco (REGEX 22). Of note, REGEX 23 was the first full-scale REGEX conducted since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, and the first REGEX hosted by a member of the Istanbul Cooperation Initiative
In close cooperation with the Moldovan Ministry of Defence JFC Naples J9 is already setting the scene for conducting the REGEX 24 edition in South Eastern Europe in Moldova.