The 11th MATC Steering Committee (SC) meeting was held in Prague (the Czech Republic) on November 23, 2023.
The main SC meeting subjects were the new SC Chairman election, the Programme of Work (POW), the MATC Multinational Budget (MMB) and the MATC FIN Plan for three years approval.
Hungary was designated for the chairmanship. The SC agreed that the next regular meeting of the SC will be held in Hungary in autumn 2024.
At the beginning of the meeting, the members of the SC expressed support for maintaining the project and focusing on changes, using future opportunities with the need for transformation and adapting to new directions of training using the advantages offered by MATC (such as the VAT refund system with the aim of enabling simplified access to training activities).
The MATC’s annual report was presented by MATC acting director LtCol Ladislav Zajíček, followed by a summary in the legal and financial fields, carried on with accomplished training review, MATC internships and, last but not least, AAW activities. Then the training program 2024, the financial plan for the upcoming year and prospectively for a period of three years were presented.
The final part of the SC meeting was devoted to future directions and activities, where, in the context of the current status of MATC personnel shortage, the need to conduct future meetings remotely was mentioned. This could help to maintain continuity in case of the portfolio expansion by training and cooperation with other organizations such as NFTE or MSAP. Training will continue to focus on existing and progressive areas of interest, such as UAS and ground personnel training. One of the ways to improve the face of MATC and promote it more thoroughly in a wider spectrum is to change the MATC key document – the Training catalogue. After the implementation of these changes, it would be possible to consider the expansion of MATC members.
Written by AK