BREMERHAVEN, Germany - NATO Maritime Command (MARCOM) Commander, Vice Admiral Keith E. Blount, CB OBE of the Royal Navy, visited Bremerhaven, Germany June 4-5 for the Cooperative Strategy Forum 2019, joining Senior Navy and civilian defence experts from 17 NATO countries.

Hosted by the German Navy Office of the Chief of Naval Operations, US Navy Chief of Naval Operations and MARCOM, the forum addressed high-end naval warfighting in the era of great power competition. The event included presentations by U.S. and European scholars and military experts as well as a table top exercise led by the U.S. Naval War College.

"It is important to continually review the operational opportunities and challenges facing the Alliance and our Partners," said Vice Admiral Blount. "For NATO, credible, demonstrable capability at the high end of joint military operations is key to deterring aggression, providing collective defence and managing crises. This Forum provided an excellent opportunity for discussion and I was delighted to co-host it."

This year's Cooperative Strategy Forum builds on last year's Copenhagen meeting which addressed the changed maritime security situation in the Baltic Sea region. The strategic discussion forum is hosted annually by the US Navy and rotates between regions. Previous forums took place in Honolulu, Hawaii, and in Naples, Italy.