Next year, Mediterranean participants will be offered the same opportunity. Finally, the annual Conference of Commandants brings together the heads of senior training establishments throughout NATO and many of its Partner countries. This conference has enormous potential as a forum for discussion, the exchange of information and establishment of best practice, which we will try to exploit to the full in future years. The success of the NDC educational programme is the product of continual adaptation and scrutiny of the new strategic environment. Since the end of the Cold War, NATO has witnessed the growth of large multinational units, the opening and enlargement of our Alliance, and the setting up of ad hoc coalitions when necessary.
Operations are increasingly multinational and joint.
At the same time, new missions have appeared such as conflict prevention, crisis management and peace-support operations. Finally, international organisations, including non-governmental organisations, have a more important and diversified role to play in NATO's present and potential activities. The operational framework has changed too, shifting from a unidirectional to a multidirectional risk strategy, which involves a far broader definition of security and the respective roles of politicians and the military. The advent of the information age, with the increased role of technology and the growth of global networking, is also revolutionising higher defence and security education, which is set to undergo permanent and ongoing change. Our Conference of Commandants provides an excellent forum for such linkage.