On the 6th of June 2023, the Director of the Italian Defence Innovation Hub (UGID), M.G. Giuseppe Bertoncello, accompanied by his staff, paid a visit to the NATO Security Force Assistance Centre of Excellence (NATO SFA COE).
The aim of the visit was to provide the General with a broad overview of the COE and illustrate the effective support that the NATO SFA COE can provide to the Alliance and its Sponsoring Nations.
While retracing the conceptual and doctrinal bases of SFA in NATO, the Director of the Centre, Col Massimo Di Pietro, illustrated the most relevant projects and activities related to the Italian Defence.
Moreover, the staff of the COE continued the briefing, presenting the ongoing projects and the main activities planned for 2024 in detail. In particular the staff illustrated how the COE supports the NATO doctrine community in the development and revision of Security Force Assistance related publications, documents and concepts. The Centre provides specific expertise in the field of Defence Capacity Building and Security Sector Reform in light of the SFA capabilities and activities that can be conducted along the continuum of competition.
Furthermore, the meeting emphasized how the Centre is actively supporting JFTC in Bydgoszcz (Poland) in conducting pre-deployment training for the NATO mission Iraq. In fact, the Centre contributes to the development of Advisors’ soft skills to be used during the interaction and dialogue with the Iraqi interlocutors.
At the end of the meeting, M.G. Bertoncello expressed his appreciation for the stimulating presentation and relevant projects stressing that the collaboration between the UGID hub and the NATO SFA COE plays an important role in joint research and promoting new ideas or concept proposals.
