NCI Agency General Manager Kevin J Scheid said: "This agreement will facilitate cooperation in military communications and information systems, which are critical to helping NATO and its Partners communicate and work together. We look forward to a decade of successful collaboration with Switzerland on challenges that we must overcome to ensure the strength of the Alliance now, and in the future."
The agreement establishes the legal framework for cooperation between the nation and the NCI Agency. The NCI Agency has similar agreements in place with nearly all NATO Nations, and with several other close Partner Nations.
Ambassador Philippe Brandt, Ambassador of Switzerland to the Kingdom of Belgium and Head of the Mission of Switzerland to NATO, said: "Today, we are enhancing the collaboration with the NCI Agency through this agreement. Within the PfP framework and our individual partnership and cooperation programme with NATO, we strive to maintain and improve our interoperability with NCI Agency support while strictly adhering to Swiss neutrality. Interoperability with NATO and PfP nations also enables Switzerland to participate in international exercises and is a prerequisite for peace support operations such as KFOR."
Switzerland has been cooperating with NATO and other Partner Nations under NATO's Partnership for Peace (PfP) framework. With the newly signed agreement, Switzerland and the Agency aim to address several PfP goals for Switzerland in the technology and tech training arena.