“SEESIM 2014” Initial Planning Conference held at the Defence Academy

“SEESIM 14”, planned for September 2014, will be the seventh international computer-assisted simulation exercise of the series, conducted jointly by the SEDM (South-East Defence Ministerial) countries from the connected command posts at the respective Simulation Centres. The SEESIM exercises are held biannually, with the aim to reinforce the  coordination and interoperability of civil-military operations and mutual assistance among the SEDM nations in the event of emergency situations, such as major fires, floods, devastating earthquakes, cyber attacks, CBRN and technological disasters. The Exercise Director is the Commander of the General Staff’s Operations Centre, Brig. Gen. Ivan Jurić.

The Initial Planning Conference is co-organised by the Republic of Croatia and the Republic of Bulgaria and is  one of the central events in the continuous process of exercise planning, ending on 24 January 2014 and attended by the military and civilian representatives of Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Montenegro, Romania, Macedonia, the United States and the South-East European Brigade (SEEBRIG). The First Planning Conference was held in Croatia from 24-27 September 2013. The Simulation Centre of the Croatian Training and Doctrine Command has been designated as the Main Command Post of the Exercise.
 
The Exercise participants will employ the JCATS System.

The Conference was opened by the address by the Head of the Croatian Ministry of Defence’s Defence Policy and Planning Directorate, Tomo Radičević on behalf of the Defence Minister. He praised the considerable experience of the participants and expressed belief that the Conference would contribute to a successful conduct of the Exercise. „The Exercise is of huge importance, said Radičević, as it constitutes the perfect instrument of development of regional co-operation, co-ordination and interoperability.
Col. Valentin Cvetanov, the representative of Bulgaria and co-chairman of the Steering Group along with Lt. Col. Krešimir Lokas of the Croatian Armed Forces, stated that „SEESIM 14“ and the regional simulation network is expected to contribute to harmonisation of the standards and foster the co-operation of the SEDM nations. “As co-organiser of the Exercise, Bulgaria attaches considerable attention to the planning process and we herefore believe that the Initial Planning Conference will be very productive“, said Col. Cvetanov.
 
The SEDM nations include Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Greece, Georgia, Italy, Montenegro, Romania, Serbia, Slovenia, Macedonia, Turkey, Ukraine, the United States of America and the SEEBRIG Command, while Moldova holds the status of the observer country.
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