On Tuesday, 5 March, the first meeting of the project team to launch the NATO-Ukraine Joint Analysis, Training and Education Centre (JATEC), the first joint institution between the Alliance and Ukraine, took place in Bydgoszcz, Poland.

On the occasion of the first meeting, the Deputy Prime Minister of Ukraine for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration Olha Stefanishyna addressed the participants. She expressed her gratitude to all those involved in this ambitious project, as well as to the Polish side for hosting this important initiative.

“I am happy to welcome the first event of the project team that will fill this new platform with working mechanisms, content and joint activities. We see the Centre, along with the mechanisms of the NATO-Ukraine Council, as an additional structural element for our integration into the Alliance. Therefore, it is very important that JATEC is an effective institution, legally and practically integrated into the wider NATO structure,” the Deputy Prime Minister said in her video address.

She stressed that as JATEC was an important component of NATO’s Comprehensive Assistance Package, it was necessary to provide adequate resource support for the Centre’s work to ensure that the ambitious goals set by the project’s initiators were achieved.

From a practical point of view, Olha Stefanishyna urged the project team to focus on topical issues that would help find effective solutions in the security and defence sector, particularly in the context of the ongoing russian aggression.

“Ukraine will benefit from any practical knowledge and experience that can help us protect people and ensure our own security, whether on land, in the sky, at sea or in cyberspace. And the Centre we are launching is a platform for ongoing dialogue, exchange of knowledge and expertise, and joint search for solutions,” the Deputy Prime Minister said.

Background

The decision to launch JATEC was made following a meeting of the NATO-Ukraine Council at the level of Defence Ministers on 15 February 2024.

The Centre’s tasks will include:

• joint analysis and synthesis of experience in defence and security;
• improving the system of training and military education;
• promoting interoperability;
• development of the capabilities of the Defence Forces of Ukraine.

The Centre’s work is aimed at achieving full interoperability between the Armed Forces of Ukraine and NATO forces.