H.E. Mr. Alar Karis – president of Estonia - greeted all participants at the gala dinner held in Estonia Concert Hall, Tallinn and gave over medals to the most succssful teams at MILCOMP.
“The advantage of the reserve force is not only the strength it brings, but also the bridge it builds between the military and the rest of the society,” president Karis said. “Almost everyone in Estonia has a co-worker, a family member, or a friend who is a reservist. It cements the understanding, that defence of the country is not just a matter of the military or the government, but it is a matter of everyone,” he added.
President Karis reminded the audience about ongoing threat that Russia´s neighbouring countries experience every day. “Russia cannot be trusted to abandon war and aggression. Like all dictatorships in history, it cannot be trusted with any promises and deals,” he said adding that alliances are the biggest asset democratic countries have compared to authoritarian regimes. “International cooperation is what makes us in the West strong. It helps us defend with strength and deter with conviction,” president Karis said.
President Karis together with former CIOR president LTC Toomas Luman awarded MILCOMP winners: The best female teams were: Estonia (gold), Netherlands (silver), Finland3 (bronze); the best novices teams were: Estonia, Sweden, USA; The best experienced teams were: Nethelands3, Netherlands4, Switzerland and the best veterans and overall winners were Germany, followed by Estonia and Finland.
At the ceremony LTC Toomas Luman gave the CIOR flag to the new president of CIOR - COL Jørn Buø from Norway. „Estonian presidency aimed to draw NATO´s attention to alliance´s reserve forces and need to have more systematic reserves policy,“ LTC Luman said. „We had very successful meetings with NATO´s secretary general Jens Stoltenberg and chairman of the Military Committee admiral Rob Bauer. It will help the next presidential team to continue co-operation with NATO and it´s committees,“ he added.
Joint Nordic presidency – Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden will chair CIOR until summer 2026.