The first high-level meeting of the NATO-Ukraine Joint Analysis, Preparation, and Education Center (JATEC) has taken place. This is the first joint institution of NATO and Ukraine aimed at enhancing the capabilities of the Defense Forces and accelerating Ukraine's accession to the Alliance.
The decision to establish JATEC was approved at the NATO summit in Washington in July this year. The center is located in the Polish city of Bydgoszcz.
“The Joint NATO Center will help Ukraine not only implement procedures, approaches, and standards but also share its own experiences. Interoperability is one of our main goals, and we are taking concrete steps towards it. We have provided our proposals for project implementation and are awaiting specific decisions,” commented Deputy Minister of Defense of Ukraine Stanislav Haider.
The negotiations in Poland involved NATO Assistant Secretary General Thomas Goffus, NATO Supreme Allied Commander Transformation General Philippe Lavigne, First Deputy Chief of the General Staff of the Polish Armed Forces Major General Karol Dymowski, and Deputy Minister of Defense of Ukraine for European Integration Oleksandr Balanuza.
The parties legally formalized the establishment of the Center and outlined its main tasks, structure, roles, and functions of the leadership.
JATEC’s work aims to achieve interoperability between Ukrainian security and defense institutions and those of the Alliance, improve the quality of education, enhance analytical capabilities, and train personnel.
The parties agreed that the formal establishment of the Center should be completed by October-November this year.
“The opening of the joint NATO center is a real step towards integrating Ukraine into the Alliance structure. NATO membership is not a political slogan but the implementation of specific projects. We are gradually moving towards becoming a full-fledged member of the bloc, and the opening of JATEC brings us closer to this goal,” said Oleksandr Balanuza during the event.
Another topic of discussion was the operational support of the Center, specifically the need for NATO to provide resources for the implementation of activities and the development of an information and communication network.
Ukrainian and NATO representatives also agreed on the need to start projects within the framework of JATEC as soon as possible.
In particular, the Ukrainian side provided a list of 70 projects for joint work and proposed which of them should be prioritized.
