Romania handed over and Slovakia took over the lead nation role of 'TISA' Multinational Engineer Battalion during a ceremony organized at the Land Forces Academy 'Nicolae Balcescu' of Sibiu, on 30 January. Slovakia will exercise its lead nation role of this regional initiative for one year.

The handover/takeover protocol was signed by the Romanian deputy chief of General Staff, Lieutenant General Dan Ghica-Radu and the Slovak deputy chief of General Staff, Major General Miroslav Kocian.

'For the time we had the lead nation role of 'TISA' Initiative, Romania made a point of asserting the Multinational Engineer Battalion 'TISA' as an important cooperation tool among the countries in the region for the prevention of natural disasters and removal of their consequences. We also aimed at increasing the visibility of the initiative through an open doors policy and attracting new members', Lieutenant General Dan Ghica-Radu declared. 'We consider we met our goals and I wish to emphasize, in this respect, that observers from Moldova, Serbia and the USA participated in last year's multinational exercise Blonde Avalanche 12 ', the deputy chief of the General Staff pointed out.

In turn, Major General Miroslav Kocian said: 'it will be a challenge for us to keep multinational cooperation at the same level the Romanian had as lead nation. We look into extending TISA regional project, either by including the Danube basin in the area of responsibility of the multinational battalion, or by attracting new members'.

MoND Press Office