From 27 to 29 October, a meeting was held at the 61st Wing with the Chiefs of Staff of the Air Forces of the 10 countries participating in the initiative. The choice of Lecce as the venue for the 2009 edition of the initiative made it possible, among other things, to present to the Chiefs of Staff in attendance the operational reality of the Italian Air Force Flight School, with a view to promoting one of the Armed Forces“ areas of excellence – namely its flight training capabilities – with the aim of advancing the internationalisation project of the 61st Wing to establish it as a European centre of excellence for basic and advanced jet flight training. The ”5+5“ dialogue has its origins in 1990, when a number of European nations proposed an ”Initiative“ for the Western Mediterranean involving countries on the northern shore (France, Italy, Portugal, Spain and, subsequently, Malta), and countries on the southern shore of the Arab Maghreb (Algeria, Libya, Mauritania, Morocco, Tunisia). This forum, established at Foreign Ministers” level as an informal platform for cooperation, soon developed into a form of sub-regional dialogue, extending – on a smaller scale – to the main issues covered by the Euro-Mediterranean Partnership and also involving the Ministries of the Interior and Defence. In particular, the adoption of the “5+5” format in the defence sphere took place in the autumn of 2004, when the relevant ministers formalised the ‘Declaration of Intent’, which defined the institutional role of the Presidency (annual rotation in alphabetical order – Algeria, France, Italy, Libya, etc.), and the establishment of a Steering Committee accountable to the Ministers for the management and supervision of actions agreed upon within the framework of an Action Plan approved annually by the Defence Ministers. In practice, the 5+5 Defence Initiative is based on cooperation in activities relating to common needs on both sides, the resolution of which involves minimal interoperability issues, with a view to establishing shared operational procedures. The key aspect concerns the spirit of cooperation, which is fundamentally based on the principles of transparency and equality amongst the nations involved.
In the aeronautical sector, in summary, the cooperative activities of this forum aim to:
• increase the level of interoperability and confidence between the countries of the Initiative;
• strengthen peace and security in the Western Mediterranean area;
• increase the exchange of experiences between countries;
• establish common procedures to improve the level of cooperation with the aim of addressing issues of collective interest (Two way streets cooperation);
• cooperating, on the basis of the resources available in each country, to counter/support other Departments in the fight against issues of common interest (illegal immigration, air security, joint training).
Multimedia Contributions Video: TG3 Puglia, 29 October, 2 PM
