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CSDN meeting in the Palace of Belém

Meeting of the Supreme Council for National Defence

The Supreme Council for National Defence held an ordinary meeting, presided by the President of the Republic.

At the end of the meeting, which was held in the Palace of Belem, a communiqué was read by the Secretary to the Council, General João Goulão de Melo.

Following is the text of the communiqué::

"In today’s session, the Council analysed the situation of the National Forces deployed abroad, ascertaining that the peace missions were taking place in accordance with the approved planning, there being no need to alter their strengths, except in the case of the Afghanistan Theatre, for which the Government presented a proposal which received a favourable view.

The proposal constituted a new category of connections for our Forces within the scope of the NATO strategy for that Theatre, which will be as follows:

• Nest September, return of the Fast Reaction Force, made up of an Army Company and 12 Air Force personnel.

• Linked with the return of this Force, a new Deployed National Force will be set up until end October 2010, with a commander (Colonel), teams of trainers/instructors, two operating monitoring and liaison teams, a support module, an intelligence cell and personnel detached in the general quarters, totalling 191 military personnel."