SHAPE's Military Partnerships Directorate,  Chief of Staff,  Major General Odd Egil Pedersen,  led a team from SHAPE to visit several military training establishments across Ukraine from Oct. 22- 31,  2018.  - NATO photo by SHAPE Public Affairs Office

KIEV, Ukraine– A team from SHAPE's Military Partnerships Directorate (MPD) visited several military training establishments across Ukraine, from Oct. 22 to 31, 2018 to brief and discuss numerous aspects of mutual cooperation.

"Our relationship with Ukraine and our collective Defence Capacity Building initiatives grow from strength to strength and let there be no doubt, the progress we have made together has been significant, '' said Major General Odd Egil Pedersen, MPD Deputy Chief of Staff. "After our briefings I am always hugely impressed by the variety and well considered questions posed to myself and the NATO team. The thirst for information is across all ranks.''

An area of strong development is the Senior Non-Commissioned Officer (NCO) programme where identifying capable junior ranks for closer more detailed training has ensured that the Ukrainian Army is enhancing a strong NCO cadre. This is fundamental in progressing structure and command chains that underpin a professional army.

"Some countries have had a professional standing army for hundreds of years where the non-commissioned officer system is well established and tried and tested in battle,"' said Chief Warrant Officer Martin Cartier, SHAPE Partnerships Senior Enlisted Leader. "The Ukrainian Armed Forces continue to make steady progress in adopting such processes and already results can be seen amongst their personnel, including the mentoring of junior officers, " he added.

SHAPE's Military Partnerships have an extensive annual programme that focusses on Defence Capacity Building with our Partners in areas of mutual interest. Through enhancing interoperability NATO's Collective Defence continues to be strengthened.