On 27 May 2015, the NCI Agency General Manager, Mr Koen Gijsbers, attended the Senior Level Meeting on the NATO-Ukraine Joint Working Group on Defence Reform (JWGDR) in Kyiv, Ukraine. The JWGDR is the framework carrying out Ukraine-NATO cooperation in defence and security sector, which activities are aiming at intensifying the practical Ukraine-NATO cooperation.
Following opening remarks by Mr Turchynov, Secretary of the National Security and Defence Council (NSDC) of Ukraine and Ambassador Stamatopoulos, NATO Assistant Secretary General for Political Affairs and Security Policy, senior representatives from Ukraine Ministries and Armed Forces provided briefings on the security situation in Ukraine, as well as Ukraine's Comprehensive Security and Defence Sector Review and Implementation of Ukraine's Security and Defence Sector Reform. The NCI Agency's GM provided a well-received status update on the NCI Agency's role in support of Ukraine's reform, particularly the C4 Trust Fund.
This Senior Level Meeting, which the NCI Agency GM was invited for the first time in recognition of the Agency active support to Ukraine, provided valuable information on how Ukraine is conducting the defence and security review, and provided more clarity on the hierarchy and development of key defence documents, including the National Security Strategy signed on 26 May 2015 by the President of Ukraine.
During his visits, Mr Gijsbers was accompanied by Mr Eric Lievre, Chief Strategic Partnership and Customer Relationship Management.