NATO-Russia Resettlement Centre: 5th anniversary

Five years after its official opening on 21 March 2002, a new contract has been signed for the NATO-Russia Resettlement Centre, which is financed under the NATO-Russia Council (NRC).

In 2007, the Centre will continue its activities in retraining and helping retired military personnel transition to the civilian sector.

A contract covering the Centre's activities until February 2008 was signed on 28 February by NATO, the Russian Ministry of Defence and the Russian State Social University.

Plans include 16 professional retraining courses, five short retraining courses, and three conferences on retraining and reconversion which will be held in 12 different locations.

Practical assistance

In 2007, for the first time, two English-language courses and two management courses for small and medium-sized enterprises will be organised. This follows up on a decision by NRC foreign ministers at their meeting in April 2006 that the Centre should focus more on supporting retrained former military personnel in establishing small and medium-sized businesses and on language training.

It is expected that in the coming year, at least another 325 discharged military will be retrained (so far, some 1 500 have been retrained since the Centre started operating) and 75 resettlement specialists will be trained (adding to the 600 that have been trained to date).

When it first opened, following the signature of a memorandum of understanding between NATO and the Russian Ministry of Defence in June 2001, the Centre operated only in Moscow. It organised short courses for retraining specialists, provided information for discharged military personnel and created a web site to provide relevant information on resettlement.

In 2003, the Centre opened six regional branch offices in Kaliningrad, St. Petersburg, Yaroslavl, Perm, Rostov/Don and Novossibirsk, as well as expanding its activities to offer longer (500 hour) professional courses for trainees. A job placement unit was added to the Centre in 2004, which has so far helped find civilian jobs for 725 former military personnel. Over the years, the Centre and its regional branch offices have responded to some 150 000 consultations -- 17 000 were face-to-face consultations, the rest were through the web site (www.centre.russia-nato.info).

The concrete achievements of the Centre over the past five years underscore the value of the NRC as a forum for consultation as well as practical cooperation.