Ambassador Wayne Attends Closing Ceremony of Peacekeeping Operation Exercise “Americas 2009”

May 15, 2009

Brigadier General Garcia (El Salvador). Major General Bensusan (Brazil), Lieutenant General Fuenzalida (Chile) and U.S. Ambassador Earl Anthony Wayne.

Ambassador Wayne attended on May 15 PKO-Americas 2009 closing ceremony. The conference held May 4-15 at the Buenos Aires Sheraton Hotel gathered 16 hemispheric countries. Also present at the event were Argentina’s Ministry of Defense Military Strategy and Planning Undersecretary José Luis Sersale, U.S. Army South General Commander Maj. Gen. Keith Huber; Second Commander of the Argentine Armed Forces Operations Command and Co-director of PKO-Americas 2009 Rear-Admiral Jorge Roberto Gonzalez, Argentina’s Ministry of Defense Director General of Cooperation for Peacekeeping Luciana Micha and Exercise Coordinator Argentine Army Colonel Marcelo Rozas Garay; among other civil authorities and military representatives from the numerous participating nations.

“PKO-Americas 2009 is a vehicle that provides opportunities for partner nation Militaries to work at the joint level with civilians, police, the UN, and NGOs in scenarios that approximate real-life UN peacekeeping missions.  I congratulate Argentina – host of this conference – for its important role in this exercise and for pioneering peacekeeping operations around the world for over half a century,” said Ambassador Wayne.

More than 200 representatives and participants from the following countries attended this year’s PKO simulation exercise: Argentina, Belize, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, El Salvador, U.S.A., Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Paraguay, Peru, Dominican Republic and Uruguay. This year’s conference unites the peacekeeping training exercises of North America -- including Central America and the Caribbean-- and South America for the first time.

The purpose of Peacekeeping Operation Exercise Americas 2009 is to provide opportunities to increase interoperability and peacekeeping capacities among partner nations, PKO leaders and trainers to improve Peacekeeping procedures and training methodologies in accordance with the United Nations and Conference of American Armies (CAA) standards. Argentina, through its Joint Staff hosted and leaded the conference as the United States played a support role both financially and logistically.