It was a great pleasure to receive the visit of the Ambassador of the Federal Republic of Germany, H.E. Dr Christian Hellbach, on 25 May 2023 in RACVIAC. He was accompanied by the Defence Attaché of the Federal Republic of Germany to Croatia, LTC Guido Altendorf. His hosts were RACVIAC Director, Ambassador Constantin-Mihail Grigorie and members of RACVIAC staff.
They were presented with the work of RACVIAC and its Programme 2023, cooperation with Germany and areas of possible future cooperation.
RACVIAC Director, Ambassador Grigorie, expressed his appreciation for their visit and highlighted the importance of German-RACVIAC cooperation in promoting regional security and stability. As a co-founder of RACVIAC Germany has demonstrated significant support for the work and implementation of RACVIAC activities since their beginnings, both financially and by providing personnel. Regarding personnel contributions, Germany has seconded staff to RACVIAC since the founding of RACVIAC, i.e., a Deputy Director, Programme Manager, Planning & Liaison Officer, Chief of Logistics, and a Chief of Admin & Finance. Moreover, the first Chairman of RACVIAC MAG was a German General, Hans Hübner.
Furthermore, Germany actively contributes to the implementation of RACVIAC activities, in particular by providing lecturers within the thematic area of Arms Control. In the last couple of years Germany’s area of interest has been extended to activities such as Gender Training of the Trainers Course, Foreign Terrorist Fighters, and, as of this year, Hybrid Threats in SEE (Media and Terrorism Course), all of which have received financial support.
RACVIAC is thankful for Germany’s support and contribution to security dialogue and cooperation in South East Europe, either by providing personnel for its staff or financial contributions, or by providing experts for its activities.
While noting down his impressions in the RACVIAC guestbook, Ambassador Hellbach thanked for the warm welcome and emphasized that RACVIAC is working also in the interest of German security. He wished everyone lots of success in their work which, he said, will contribute to security dialogue and cooperation in South East Europe.
