APS : Wednesday, 19 October 2016
ALGIERS- The 8th meeting of the Chiefs of Army Staff of the member countries of the “5+5 Defence”Initiative opened Wednesday in Algiers.
This high-level meeting, which is part of the action plan 2016 of the Initiative, of which Algeria ensures the rotating presidency, was chaired by Major General Ahcene Tafer, Commander of Land Forces, representative of Lieutenant General Ahmed Gaid Salah, the deputy minister of the National Defence, Chief of Staff of the People’s National Army.
In his opening speech, Major General Tafer said that “5+5 Defence” Initiative is “one of the most active regional spaces in terms of multilateral cooperation, consultations and dialogue on security stakes.”
“In a regional context marked by the density of activities of fight against terrorism and organized crime, accentuated by the risks caused by the migratory flows in the region, we, the member countries of “5+5 Defence,” are the first players of our security through our capacity to gather together round a regular dialogue and an added value military cooperation,” said Major General Tafer.
He affirmed the importance given by the high command of the People’s National Army for the success of this meeting.
For their part, the Chiefs of Army Staff of the member countries also expressed their countries’ willingness to strengthen “the growing power” of this process of cooperation to face the different threats in the region and underlined the activities undertaken by their countries in the fields of common interest.
The “5+5 Defence” Initiative brings together Algeria, Libya, Morocco, Mauritania and Tunisia from the southern shore of the Mediterranean and France, Spain, Italy, Malta and Portugal from the northern shore.
