Paris, 7 February 2008 – The Association Aéronautique et Astronautique de France (AAAF) and the Assembly of Western European Union/the Interparliamentary European Security and Defence Assembly are co-hosting a symposium in Paris on the transformation of forces in Europe, from Tuesday 5 to Thursday 7 February 2008.

Michel SCHELLER, President of the AAAF, opened the proceedings. Jean-Pierre MASSERET, President of the WEU Assembly, then spoke, stressing the need for European countries to cooperate on European security and defence policy matters.

The French Chief of Defence Staff, General Jean-Louis GEORGELIN, explained the various factors to be taken into account to ensure the constant adaptation of the armed forces to the new tasks required to meet current threats, and underlined two important aspects: feedback and the human factor. Major General Koen GIJSBERS, NATO Allied Command Transformation, seconded General GEORGELIN stressing the urgent need for greater EU-NATO cooperation on procurement issues.

In a roundtable discussion led by Olivier DARRASON, President of the Board of Directors of the IHEDN, François LUREAU, French national armaments director, Louis GALLOIS, Chief Executive Officer of EADS, and Denis RANQUE, Chairman and CEO of Thales, expressed the views of government and industry on methods of security and defence equipment procurement, emphasising the necessity for a “capability approach” to defining needs whereby procurement agency representatives, military users and industrialists come together at the very early stages of a project.

The symposium continues with a number of more technical presentations and will conclude with a further round table on forces’ transformation in Europe and the impact on the defence industry and the procurement process. The Director of the European Defence Agency is to take part in the discussion and give the closing address.

At the suggestion of Baroness Ann TAYLOR, UK Minister for Defence Equipment and Support, on 8/9 April, the Assembly’s Technological and Aerospace Committee is organising a major colloquy in Liverpool on “Defence equipment procurement in Europe” (for more details, please contact Mr José PEDREGOSA, Counsellor to Technological and Aerospace Committee of the Assembly; Tel.: (0033)153672476, jpedregosa@assembly.weu.int).