“This address strikes a particular chord for me, since it punctuates my first year as DCI Chief Executive Officer. I should, therefore and first of all, thank the Minister of Defense, Mr. Jean-Yves le Drian, who suggested my name, and members of the Board of Directors who trusted me and are with us tonight.
I thank them because Défense Conseil International, DCI, is a wonderful company. Wonderful by its mission: the transfer of the French Armed Forces know-how to France’s friendly countries. Transfer the know-how of the best European Armed Forces and of one of the most efficient in the word. Transfer this know-how to France friendly countries. It is quite a special opportunity that I share with the 890 DCI employees. We carry this inner pride everywhere we are,” Palagos said.
He further noted that the year 2014 went by as the reaffirmation of DCI’s fundamentals and consolidation for the Group.
“As soon as I took office, I set the direction: refocusing on our core business, serving defense and supporting our industry; re-establishing the link with the Armed Forces; rebuilding the relationship with our historical partner countries; fostering a relationship of trust with our shareholders and our Board of Directors.”
2014 marks the 100th Saudi naval engineer training, also known as SAGEMA. This is how, for example, we welcomed 21 Kuwaiti cadets in Saint-Cyr and around 30 student pilots at the Air academy.
This partnership with our historical partner countries is also reflected in the signature of a cooperation agreement in Qatar with the National Academy for Professional Training, placing us as an essential partner in this country.
This partnership is also reflected in numerous projects with our friendly countries, such as the United Arab Emirates, Malaysia, Singapore, and others,” he added.
“Now we can face 2015 on solid grounds that enable us to assert our ambition: always serve better. We are going to reach out to the world, to Asia and to Latin America. But we are also going to extend our service portfolio to better meet expectations. As an example, we signed at the beginning of this year a partnership with the Military Health Service.
We are going to develop even more training engineering to be at the cutting edge of technology: e-learning, simulation and serious games. We are also going to innovate in our offers since, for us, an endless recycling of the past is not the best way to prepare the future,” Palagos stressed.
“And 2015 will also be a year of recognition for the Armed Forces. That’s why I asked the Minister of Defense to create a DCI price aiming at rewarding those who served in a particular way, soldiers wounded in combat or in operation. This price will be awarded for the first time by the Minister of Defense in April,” he concluded.
