The Austrian and Slovenian defence ministers have put forward a joint initiative to the members of the Central European Nations Cooperation in Peace Support (CENCOOP) for the creation of a CENCOOP military academy.
Attending a two-day meeting of CENCOOP defence ministers in Interlaken, Switzerland, Austria's Guenther Platter and Slovenia's Anton Grizold proposed to the ministers of the five other member states that the organisation establish its own military academy.
Grizold stressed that the ministers of the other members received the idea with enthusiasm and subsequently a decision was taken that the CENCOOP steering committee be put in charge of making the creation of a military academy a reality.
The academy would allow CENCOOP to tap into the unique nature of each member state and subsequently to take advantage of this diversity, Grizold said.
"We must build a starting point for future joint projects in peace-keeping operations," Grizold said. He highlighted that Slovenia and Austria have already launched such cooperation by sending a joint peace-keeping platoon to Bosnia-Herzegovina.
Grizold also underscored the regional importance of such an initiative, adding that regional cooperation is to become increasingly important in the world. The academy, said Grizold, would be a step towards making CENCOOP a "useful regional tool".
Moreover, Grizold believes the academy will help countries share experiences in defence reforms.
Grizold said the countries have not yet discussed the location of such an academy. It could be situated in Slovenia, Grizold said, adding that it has been suggested that it could be located somewhere around Maribor or Austria's Graz.
Apart from the military academy plan, the sixth annual meeting of this regional military organisation has focused on the future role of the organisation and cooperation with the UN, the OSCE, NATO and the EU.
CENCOOP was established in 1997 with the goal of associating small Central European states in peace-support operations. Its members include Austria, Slovenia, Hungary, Slovakia, Romania, Switzerland and Croatia, while the Czech Republic and Ukraine have observer status.
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