On March 7, the Inter-American Defense Board (IADB) and the Joint Military Defense Academy of Ecuador (ADEMIC) held the Final Planning Conference (FPC) of the international cooperation exercise in disasters and humanitarian assistance MECODEX 2023, through a videoconference with the presentation of the exercise development process.
The MECODEX 2023 exercise will take place from May 8 to 12, 2023 at the Sangolquí campus of the University of the Armed Forces-ESPE of Ecuador. The development and planning is being carried out jointly and coordinated between members of the IADB and Ecuador.
The conference began with representatives of the IADB contextualizing the need to develop MECODE, which is a hemispheric mechanism to facilitate humanitarian aid cooperation in cases of disasters, which exceed the response capabilities of an affected country.
The IADB thanked international organizations and cooperation systems for the support received for the development of MECODE. Subsequently, the Director of ADEMIC-Ecuador, Colonel EMC Luis Lara Tapia and the Director of the Exercise Colonel EMC Nelson Gaona Sánchez presented the way in which the MECODEX 2023 exercise will be executed, which is part of the MECODE development process. The efforts carried out, the facilities available for the event and institutions from different levels of Ecuador that will participate in this exercise were also presented.
Representatives of the IADB, Ministry of National Defense of Ecuador, Directorate of Operations of the CC.FF.AA participated in the FPC. of Ecuador, Joint Military Defense Academy (ADEMIC), the Conference of Defense Ministers of the Americas (CMDA), the System of Cooperation between the American Air Forces (SICOFAA), the Conference of American Armies (CEA), the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), the Conference of Central American Armed Forces (CFAC), International Red Cross, Pacific Disaster Center, Ministry of Defense of Peru (MINDEF), National Institute of Civil Defense (INDECI) of Peru, Representation of Peru before the IADB and the Brazilian Defense College (ESD).
