The NATO Exercise Planning and Alignment Conference was held in Helsinki

The NATO Exercise Planning and Alignment Conference (NEPAC) was held in Helsinki on 25th and 26th April. The meeting brought together NATO's command and force structure, all member countries and Sweden to synchronize the exercise programmes of NATO and Allies to support the achievement of the goals set for NATO's collective training and exercises and further the NATO's ability to fulfill its missions.

The forewords and guidance to the conference were delivered by Lieutenant General Hubert Cottereau, the SHAPE Vice Chief of Staff (VCOS). From the host nation side, the participants were addressed by Finnish Deputy Chief of Staff (DCOS) Personnel, Major General Rami Saari. They both highlighted the drastic change in the security environment during the past few years. That change shows very clearly that the military force will remain one of the tools and the role of traditional military capabilities remains central in the security environment. 

Major General Saari emphasized that because of our history and geostrategic location, Finland has always taken our defense in a very serious manner. He recognized that the readiness is naturally a challenge for a reserve-based forces but explained that Finnish Defense Forces is currently working on the readiness capabilities – that is one of the main priorities in short and midterm as a NATO-member. As a big picture, the Finnish conscript and reserve forces training will continue as planned and no major changes are foreseen.

From the Finnish perspective the integration into NATO Military Training & Exercise Programme (MTEP) is well underway. 

– We will still we need to improve the interoperability and the Alliances capability to fulfill its’ tasks, so more of the traditionally Finnish exercises will be conducted with the participation of other allies, said Saari.

In his guidance to the conference the Lieutenant General Cottereau stressed that training is the primary tool for how to maintain NATO’s operational readiness and for how to deliver the strongest possible deterrence effects. According to him that’s one of the principal foundations of our collective strength and Alliance unity.

– The work is also on way with the New NATO Force Model. In all of Alliance’s exercises from now the aim is to train much closer to reality. The events in the last year have taught us a lot which we must rapidly incorporate into our training.

As a whole the conference was a success. The aim and end-states of this conference were well achieved. The time was well spent and all of the parties involved participated proactively and were also able to actively contribute to the outcomes.