Multinational Division Headquarters North to be established in Latvia and Denmark in 2019

Yesterday, on 11 July, during the NATO Brussels Summit, Defence Minister Raimonds Bergmanis and Danish, Estonian, Canadian, British and Lithuanian defence ministers signed a Letter of Intent to establish Multinational Division Headquarters North.

“I would like to thank Denmark for conceiving the idea and making an input. I am also pleased to see that Camp Ādaži is already being prepared for hosting the Multinational Division Headquarters North,” stressed Defence Minister R.Bergmanis. “Creation of Division headquarters in Latvia will promote the collective defence of NATO. It is a clear signal of Alliance’s enhanced support for European security.”

Denmark, Estonia and Latvia are the framework countries of Multinational Division Headquarters North. Other participating countries include Canada, the UK and Lithuania. Division headquarters are also open for other NATO Member States.

According to the Letter of Intent signed during the NATO Summit, Multinational Division North Headquarters, which will be responsible for NATO’s defence planning and implementation in the Baltic region, will become functional in 2019. Command of Division headquarters will be located in Ādaži base, Latvia, and Karup, Denmark.

With aim of promoting interoperability and joint defence activities of participating countries, the Multinational Division Headquarters North will be responsible for defence, military exercise and mission planning and implementation.

The newly-formed headquarters of Multinational Division Headquarters North will be efficient and combat-capable command unit, which will ensure joint command over division-size units, including units of the headquarters' framework and other allied nations, and NATO's enhanced Forward Presence battlegroups currently deployed in the Baltic States. Fully operational division headquarters will be comprised of more than 300 officers.

In order to strengthen the Alliance’s response capabilities, headquarters will fully comply with NATO operational analysis standards and be integrated into common NATO command structure. Work of Multinational Division Headquarters North and already functioning, Polish-led Multinational Division North East Headquarters in Elblag, Poland, will be coordinated by Multinational Corps North-East.

Latvia is contributing military officers and administrative personnel to the headquarters, as well as the necessary infrastructure at the Camp Ādaži.

As reported earlier, Defence Minister Raimonds Bergmanis and Lt.Gen Leonīds Kalniņš, Chief of the Defence of the National Armed Forces, are currently in Brussels, Kingdom of Belgium, attending the NATO Summit, which takes place on 11-12 July.

Media contacts:
Media Relations Section
Military Public Affairs Department
Ministry of Defence of the Republic of Latvia
E-mail: prese@mod.gov.lv
Website: www.mod.gov.lv