The NATO Crisis Management and Disaster Response Centre for Excellence (CMDR COE) in Bulgaria was granted official accreditation.

The accreditation, which was granted by the North Atlantic Council, enabled CMDR COE as a NATO military body with international status as stipulated under Article XIV of the Paris Protocol.

The centre was granted accreditation after it fulfilled the requirements set out by NATO's Military Committee, the press service of the Bulgarian Defence Ministry informs.

In the future, the centre will provide support for the transformation and reinforcement of the Alliance's capacity in crisis management and disaster response.

In the past two years, the centre and the Defence Ministry have worked in close cooperation with the Allied Command Transformation (HQ SACT), the Headquarters and experts of the Alliance.

The efforts, which have been invested into the establishing of the centre, were rewarded with the granting of accreditation by HQ SACT.

CMDR COE is an international organisation, which was established with the ratification of the Memorandum of Understanding between the defence ministries of Bulgaria, Greece and Poland.

The memorandum of understanding was signed on 28 August 2013 in Norfolk, Virginia, while the centre was officially inaugurated by Bulgarian President and Commander-in-chief Rosen Plevneliev on 17 September 2014.