Summer Congresses

Estonian Reserve Officers Association took over CIOR presidency from Germany on August 5th in Athens. By: Ingrid Mühling, Lt Cdr, Estonian Navy/ CIOR Public Affairs. Lt Col Toomas Luman, new president of CIOR, said in his letter to CIOR committees, that in current...

The CIOR Summer Congress Symposium “Russian War Against Ukraine” was attended by hundreds of congress participants from over 30 nations in Athens today. The Minister of National Defence of Greece Nikolaos Panagiotopoulos was among the keynote speakers. By Capt....

Yet another successful CIOR Language Academy (CLA) has been completed, teaching English and French as a second language, emphasising a NATO military lexicon while at the same time providing an orientation towards CIOR. By: Roy Thorvaldsen, Lt. Col (R), Norwegian Army/...

The Summer Congress opening ceremony took place at the Zappeion Megaron in Athens – a part of the national heritage of the Greek civilisation. Before that, wreaths were laid at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. By now, the first day and a half of meetings are...

The first normal Summer Congress in three years is about to start. In fact, several associated activities have already begun or taken place, with dozens of participants from across the national member associations. By: Roy Thorvaldsen, Lt. Col (R), Norwegian Army/...

One of the key events during the CIOR Summer Congress is the Civil Military Cooperation (CIMIC) Exercise, CIMEX. This year’s edition takes place between Friday 29 July and Sunday 31 July, at the InterContinental Athenaeum hotel in Athens. By: Roy Thorvaldsen, Lt. Col...

The first 100% digital Summer Congress of CIOR was successfully concluded Sunday, with a lot of compliments from national delegations to the German-led Presidency. The entire agenda was adressed and discussed during the limited two-day timeframe, and all required...

The first ever fully virtual Summer Congress in CIOR started with an inspirational keynote speech from Rear Admiral Ralf Kuchler, German Navy, to set the tone – before the President moved to more ordinary agenda points like the budget plan for the next fiscal year....

Between 1 and 7 August, joint training of reservists from Romania and the US takes place at the Land Forces Academy “Nicolae Bălcescu” in Sibiu, Romania. This is the first large scale mission dedicated to Romanian volunteer reservists, and the first time they take...

The military skills competition is a core activity of CIOR. This pandemic year is a bit special, in that formally there’s no central contest – but rather local events run in parallell in the various participating nations. Yet, ten of the nations have still...

An important event during the CIOR Summer Congress is the military skills competition. All participating nations take MILCOMP very seriously, and train for months to be the best they can be for their team in this friendly annual contest. By: Roy Thorvaldsen, Lt. Col...

The announcement of the CIOR Summer Congress also signals the coming of the annual CIMIC (Civil-Military Cooperation) exercise, CIMEX. This year’s theme should be particularly interesting and highly relevant, so hurry and sign up, says CIMIC Chair, Major Zoe Stewart...

  The most challenging circumstances that a CIOR Summer Congress ever faced were overcome with a successful week’s outcomes in Tallinn, Estonia. Delegates from a reduced number of countries attended in person due to the Covid-19 crisis but meetings continued...

This year’s late summer congress was not a normal one due to the Covid-19 crisis, as fewer nations understandably decided to attend in person. Despite this, the organisers of the YROW (Young Reserve Officer Workshop) and ROW (the new Reserve Officer Workshop for...

The ‘CIOR Late Summer Congress 2020’ was kicked off with an opening ceremony in Tallinn’s ‘Freedom Square’ Sunday afternoon, and Monday morning the Executive Council and various committees started their work. By: Sqn Ldr (R) Michael Cairns, Royal Air Force/ CIOR...

There’s another first for CIOR, as the 2020 CIOR CIMEX (civil-military cooperation exercise) has 16 online participants from North America and Europe along with 18 in Tallinn. A distinguished panel of speakers are due over the three days, discussing a variety of...

In place of the normal Summer Congress Symposium, CIOR is in Tallinn co-sponsoring with the International Centre for Defence & Security its internationally recognised ’Annual Baltic Conference on Defence’. This is a one-day event – this year entitled...

The CIOR  ’Late Summer Congress’ is confirmed to go ahead as initially planned, in Tallinn, Estonia, from 27 September to 01 October 2020. Due to the COVID-19 situation, the virtual IBM held last July agreed to make a final decision by the third week of August. By:...

– In character, Russia and terrorist groups are different, but both want the same thing – from order, through disorder to new order that is more to their advantage. So, who is going to compete on our behalf? Our Reservists. The Millennials. By: Roy Thorvaldsen,...

– I like the Reserves. My Father was a Reservist in the UK Territorial Army for 21 years. I also like Reservists because Reservists win wars. Small Regular Armies need reinforcements and regeneration. With these words, NATO’s Deputy Supreme Allied Commander...

The military skills competition that took place Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday of last week, was yet another success for one of the most tangible outputs of the interallied confederation of reserve officers (CIOR), namely MILCOMP. Athletes from the CIOR member and...

The Young Reserve Officer Workshop (YROW) is a platform for younger officers to gain knowledge and to build mutual understanding between reserve officers from different NATO and partner nations. Reserve officers usually the age 30 or younger come together every CIOR...

*LE FRANÇAIS SUIT* The Interallied Confederation of Reserve Officers (CIOR) president Colonel Chris Argent, and the Interallied Confederation of Reserve Non-Commissioned Officers (CISOR) president Master Sergeant Michel d’Alessandro formalize the cooperation between...

*LE FRANÇAIS SUIT* On August 7, 2019, at the Summer Congress in Tallinn, Estonia, the CIOR delegates had the honour to listen to outstanding presentations on the annual theme: “Millennial Reserve Officers: New Challenges – New SKills – New...

Rear Admiral (Retd.) Jørgen Berggrav, Secretary General of the Norwegian Reserve Officer Association and Assistant Secretary General to CIOR, was today awarded the CIOR Medal of Merit. The presentation was made by Deputy Supreme Allied Commander Europe, General Sir...

When Estonia stepped up to the challenge of hosting a CIOR summer congress, there were no NATO compatible obstacle courses in Estonia. Through massive co-operation from the Estonian Defence League Kaitseliit, the Ministry of Defence and a great number of volunteers, a...

– There can be no better location to  remind us all of the obligations of our various nations of total support within the Alliance of NATO than here in Tallinn, Estonia. A very real threat to peace, to the stability and national safety which endures here. With...

August 10, 2018 – Quebec, CIOR Public Affairs. By: U.S. Air Force Reserve Senior Airman Justin Fuchs. Canada hosted the Interallied Confederation of Reserve Officers (CIOR) and Interallied Confederation of Medical Reserve  Officers (CIOMR) annual Summer Congress from...

Canadian Army·Thursday, August 23, 2018   By Second Lieutenant Natalia Flynn, Army Public Affairs Quebec City, Quebec — Reservist civil-military affairs specialists from 14 nations came together in early August 2018 for the seventh annual CIMEX (Civil-Military...