Throughout the term of the Canadian presidency, we have emphasized the importance of renewal, results and relevance. We have achieved renewal in several ways, including the establishment of financial stability through the implementation of a structured budget cycle, streamlining of the membership dues process, and improved account management that will facilitate the transfer of funds from one presidency to the next.

Further, the past year was a productive one for the CIOR, and measurable results can be cited to show the productivity of our part-time and often volunteer organization. The CIOR is mandated to provide advice to NATO’s Military Committee, and in December we delivered the results of our post-deployment care study. Further, through the public affairs committee, we effectively communicated CIOR and reserve key messages and information to the international military community, generating considerable media coverage in ROA magazines and other publications. 

The CIOR offers a menu of activities for NATO, Partnership for Peace, and other selected countries, which then choose those programs most relevant to their reserve needs and capabilities. These programs, which provide unique professional development opportunities for reservists, were well attended in 2007. Specifically, there were 67 participants at the CIOR Language Academy, 225 at the Military Competition, 35 at the Partnership for Peace Seminar, 76 at the Young Reserve Officers Workshop, and approximately 400 at the symposium on post-deployment care at the Summer Congress in Riga, Latvia. The feedback received was overwhelming positive, hopefully indicating that we are moving in the right direction.

The CIOR is relevant – not only to reserve officer associations, but also to ministries of defence and NATO. We fully appreciate that NATO is not specifically concerned with whether member nations provide regular or reserve force personnel in response to military requirements and is focused on the capability that is required.  The CIOR helps member nations develop and deliver this capability by providing reservists who are better prepared for deployment to Afghanistan and other international missions.

More remains to be done.  The CIOR remains one of the best-kept secrets around and we must expand our outreach within member nations to better explain our products and relevance to reservists and other stakeholders, and we must also continue to reach out to nations of strategic interest to NATO that have reserve experience and expertise to share. To increase our visibility, we have over the past year engaged with reserve and government officials in many members, including the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia*, Turkey, Bulgaria, Romania, and elsewhere, and worked to gain contacts and establish ties with reserve organizations and structures in Australia, India, Israel, New Zealand and beyond.

Our recent progress is highlighted in further detail in the 2007 annual report which is posted to our website.  There are more challenges ahead, but I am confident that the CIOR can become even better at what it does. I look forward to a productive in-between meeting, a successful summer congress, and a smooth transition to the Netherlands presidency.

Carman R. McNary
Capt (N)
CIOR President