THE EVENT

With the escalating crisis in Syria, the rise of Da’esh threatening regional security from Iraq to Libya, and the history of chemical warfare in the Middle East up to today, the second edition of NCT CBRNe Middle East took place in the right place at the right time. On October 5-7, Amman – thriving capital of Jordan and only 200km away from Damascus – was the host of the only CBRNe defense event in the region, welcoming delegates from countries such as Kuwait, U.A.E., Qatar and Turkey. With three Ambassadors and four Generals as keynote speakers of the conference, NCT CBRNe Middle East 2015 set a new level of high-quality events in the region. 

IN PARTNERSHIP WITH KASOTC 

Such high-level events are obviously not possible without excellent government partners in the host country. This year, IB Consultancy cooperated with the King Abdullah II Special Operations Training Center (KASOTC) – a state of the art training facility for counterterrorism Special Forces all over the world. On the first day of the event, the international delegations could get a rare first-hand insight in the training facilities, located in the rough mountainous areas close to Amman. Visiting training facilities such as the full-scale A300 aircraft trainer for hostage situations, a specific urban area for asymmetric warfare scenarios, and state of the art shooting ranges, the attendees were obviously highly impressed. KASOTC can provide training facilities for any kind of counterterrorism training, including scenarios in a C-IED and CBRNe environment – there are no boundaries to imagination.

EXCHANGING KNOWLEDGE 

On October 6-7, the conference program continued with the conference sessions and exhibition – opened by Brig. Gen. Aref Alzaben, Military Commander of KASOTC, Brig. Gen. Abu Shattal, Jordanian Gendarmerie, and Col. Al-Hameidi, Disaster Management Director at the Jordanian Civil Defense Directorate. Following this high-level introduction in the sophisticated approaches of CBRN training and response organization in Jordan, Ambassador Dr. Karem, Egyptian Council of Foreign Affairs, and Ambassador Al-Wahishi from Yemen, set the agenda on the regional CBRNe related challenges – from the Arab Spring to failed states, the risk of WMD proliferation in the Middle East and the respective threat posed by Da’esh. Against recent developments, the scenario was obviously quite dim, however both encouraged attending policy makers to hold on to the idea of a WMD-free Middle East. The recently agreed Iranian Nuclear Deal played obviously a controversial role in following discussions. Following the opening session, speakers from Kuwait, Turkey, Iraq, Lebanon, Germany, Morocco and Jordan discussed practical approaches from national radiation protection plans and critical infrastructure protection to health mechanisms for epidemiological outbreaks and chemical response capabilities. Respective highlights were the case-studies given by Dr. Kamar Tanyan, showing an overview of the treatment of Chlorine Gas victims by the NGO Syrian Crisis Response of Aide Medicale Internationale, and Maj. Gen. Al-Tirkait, showcasing impressive chemical response capabilities of the Kuwait Fire Service Directorate. Reminding the audience of the importance of CBRNe training and education in the region, NCT CBRNe Middle East resumed its proceedings by Brig. Gen. Al-Nesf from the Qatari National Committee for the Prohibition of Weapons. Subsequently, IB Consultancy will organize a third edition of NCT CBRNe Middle East in 2016, with the venue being announced in the upcoming weeks. Stay tuned and sign-up to our newsletter or contact us via [email protected] in order to know first about the 2016 host country. If you want to get a better impression of the event, check out the event pictures on www.facebook.com/ibconsultancy. 

“As industrial representative I would say that IBC does a great job of bringing together the leading decision makers to discuss super interesting topics shaping the minds of industry, science and end users in Non-Conventional Threat arena. IBC conferences find the right balance of content sessions and networking. I always learn quite a bit when I attend the IBC conferences.” – Gordan Pesic, Firefighting Porgram Director, DOK-ING.