CSDP Annual Training and Education Conference 2017

The ESDC Secretariat is kindly inviting you to the ESDC annual network event which takes place in Brussels on 6 and 7 November 2017, jointly organised by the ESDC, CMPD, EUMS, CPCC and Egmont – Royal Institute for International Relations as the CSDP Annual Training and Education Conference 2017. The event combines the ESDC Network Conference, the Annual Meeting on Training of CSDP Mission & Operation Personnel and the EU Annual Military Training and Education Seminar.

The 2017 edition of the annual conference is a unique opportunity to analyse lessons identified from the CSDP missions and operations, to discuss recent CSDP developments and emerging policies with a view to reflecting these in training opportunities, and to explore synergies. The conference focuses on the challenges for Security and Defence that have been identified in the Global Strategy for the European Union's Foreign and Security Policy, as well as on strategic communication in CSDP missions, in particular with regard to the increasing use of social media. In these two areas, we propose exploring the training requirements and the ways in which the development of policy and training will benefit from the lessons identified.

The CSDP Annual Training and Education Conference 2017 promises to be an invaluable forum that enables people to expand their networks at EU level and with institutes in other Member States. With this in mind, we warmly welcome participants from the ESDC network institutes and relevant national ministries, EU institutions and agencies and from CSDP Missions and Operations, as well as representatives from other institutes that are involved in some form of CFSP/CSDP training and education but which have not yet taken part in ESDC activities.

Since its establishment in 2005, the ESDC has trained more than 18 000 diplomats, police officers and other civilian and military personnel. In so doing, the college has relied on a network that currently comprises 136 national and multinational training institutes from all 28 EU Member States. These include diplomatic, police and defence academies, as well as universities, think tanks and the EU Institute for Security Studies.