Brussels: Europe and the Arabs
The Military Committee, NATO's highest military authority, will meet in person on January 18-19, 2023, in Brussels, Belgium. Admiral Robbauer, Chairman of the Military Committee, will preside over the meeting, which will be attended by the Allied Chiefs of Staff and their invited counterparts from Finland and Sweden. They will be supported by General Christopher Cavoli, Supreme Allied Commander Europe (SACEUR), and General Philip Lavigne, Supreme Allied Commander (SACT), who will each preside over a session.
According to a statement issued by the NATO headquarters in Brussels, the meeting of the NATO Military Committee (MCCS) will enable the 32 defense chiefs to meet and discuss issues of strategic importance to the alliance.

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg will join the Military Committee for the first session to present the latest political objectives and discuss the security challenges facing the Alliance.

The Supreme Commander of the Coalition, General Lavin, will preside over the second session of the day. It will focus on early observations of the ongoing war in Ukraine, and accelerate the implementation of the NATO War Capstone Concept and War Development Agenda. Chiefs of Defense will discuss NATO's military capability and its ability to defend the Alliance against all challenges, now and in the future. This will include a discussion on multi-domain operations, digital transformation and interoperability.

General Cavoli, Supreme Commander of Allied Powers in Europe, will preside over the third session of the day. He will provide an update on NATO's implementation of the Deterrence and Defense Concept in the Euro-Atlantic region. This "Deterrence and Defense Strategy" provides a common framework for military activity in peace, crisis and conflict. It closely links national plans with NATO's military plans and takes into account threats and challenges specific to specific regions, domains and functional areas.

The fourth session will be on NATO readiness and the sustainability of military forces, in particular risk and mitigation. This session will focus on capacity development, military stockpiles and logistics.

The first session of the second day will see the Chiefs of Defense meet with their KFOR partners - Armenia, Austria, Finland, Ireland, Moldova, Sweden, Switzerland and Ukraine. Discussions will focus on the situation on the ground, the security environment, and the KFOR mission.

The Military Committee will then discuss NATO's non-combat mission and capacity building in Iraq with its operational partners Sweden, Finland and Australia. The defense chiefs will discuss the mission's ongoing efforts to assist Iraq in promoting greater stability, building its security and defense institutions, and eliminating terrorism.

The last session will witness the discussion of the Military Committee on NATO's continued support to Ukraine.