Commander of the Canadian Army Attends Conference of American Armies
December 13 2012 - 12:00PM
Marketwired
The Commander of the Canadian Army, Lieutenant-General Peter
Devlin, attended the Extraordinary Meeting of the Commanders of the
30th Cycle of the Conference of American Armies in Mexico City from
December 10 to 13, with military leaders from more than 20 Western
Hemisphere armies.
The Conference of American Armies is an opportunity for ground
force commanders from North, Central and South America and the
Caribbean, to meet regularly to discuss areas of mutual interest
and share lessons learned. In this way, the Conference of American
Armies contributes to the security and democratic development of
nations.
"Participating in the Conference of American Armies allows
Canada to demonstrate leadership on the world stage as a strong and
reliable defence partner," said the Honourable Peter MacKay,
Minister of National Defence. "The Conference is an important forum
for commanders to deepen ties with military partners in order to
facilitate collaboration on defence issues throughout the
continents."
This year, the overall theme of the 30th Cycle of the Conference
of American Armies was peacekeeping and disaster-relief operations.
The goal was to create mechanisms to improve the collective
capacities and interoperability of participating militaries.
"For the Canadian Army, the conference was an opportunity to
exchange ideas and experiences related to defence with partners
throughout the Americas," said Lieutenant-General Devlin. "We were
able to regionalize certain response capabilities for
disaster-relief and peacekeeping operations, determining ways to
leverage the strengths of each country for the purposes of military
cooperation."
Canada has been a full member of the Conference since 1993. The
Conference of American Armies is comprised of 20 member armies,
including Antigua and Barbuda, Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Canada,
Chile, Colombia, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador,
Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Paraguay, Peru, Trinidad
and Tobago, United States, Uruguay and Venezuela, along with five
observer armies and two observer military organizations.
The Conference of American Armies was founded in 1960 as the
Army Commanders International Organization in the Western
Hemisphere. The Commanders conference usually takes place once
every two years.
Contacts: Information: 1-866-377-0811/613-996-2353
www.forces.gc.ca