The theme of the 2010 CIOR Summer Symposium in Stavanger, Norway was “NATO’s Comprehensive Approach – The Role of Reservists’’. The conference brought together senior military commanders, civilian experts and serving Officers to present national views, policies and best practice.

Key note addresses included an overview of NATO’s comprehensive approach, the pitfalls from an operational commander’s point of view, why the comprehensive approach is the right strategy but will fail in Afghanistan and the dangers of NGO cooperation from the perspective of Médecins Sans Frontières.

Delegates divided into syndicates to extract workshop studies that would inform the annual report to NATO and sponsoring Defence Departments. Topics covered included the planning and conduct of operations; training, education and exercises; public messaging; enhancing cooperation with external actors; and stabilisation and reconstruction.

At the Summer Congress in Warsaw, Poland in August 2011, CIOR will look at NATO’s new strategic concept. For more information, see www.cior.net