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The Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), Major General P.A. Blay, paid a bilateral defence visit to the United Kingdom (UK) from November 15 to 23, 2009. The visit was to strengthen UK-Ghana Armed Forces (GAF) relations and explore further areas of cooperation between the two armed forces. A statement signed by Lieutenant Commander V. Arhin for the Director of Public Relations GAF in Accra, said during the visit, the CDS held discussions with the CDS and Minister of Defence of UK on a wide range of issues including training, mentoring, logistics support and regional peace and security. On training, the CDS discussed funding as well as logistics support to the Ghana Armed Forces Command and Staff College (GAFCSC). "This has become necessary, indeed crucial, in the wake of the withdrawal last August, of the British Military Assistance and Training Team (BMATT) which hitherto had been supporting GAFCSC with funds, logistics and Directing Staff," the statement said. It said Aegis, a British business company had agreed to seek EU and other donor funding to support the financial and logistics administration of the college. The statement said the company would also source and provide additional staff required by GAFCSC. GAFCSC is one of the very few Command and Staff Colleges of excellence in Africa and admits students from all over Africa. The current course has students drawn from various African countries including Nigeria, Benin, Togo, La Cote d'Ivoire, Sierra Leone Senegal, Uganda, Malawi, Rwanda, Zimbabwe and South Africa. Still on training, the CDS sought the commitment of two of Ghana's traditional training partners for the continued training of Ghanaian Military Officers. They are the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst where officer cadets are trained and the Royal College for Defence Studies, offering training to very senior level army officers in war studies, strategy and defence management. The statement said the schedule of the CDS also took him to an exhibition of military hardware organized by the Association of British Defence Industries; a body responsible for advise and procurement of military equipment for Ministry of Defence (MOD) UK. On display were wide ranges of equipment including indoor ranges, field kitchens, communication equipment, webbing and land and maritime platforms. Significant among these are the field kitchens and the maritime platforms. The maritime platforms in particular could be suitable for surveillance of the country's maritime domain in view of the oil find. Major General Blay was a guest of the British Minister of State for Defence, Baroness Ann Taylor. The meeting centred on Ghana's leadership role in Africa, particularly the West Africa region and UK military support to Ghana. Ghana was praised as an oasis of peace in a troubled region as well as a country of high democratic credentials, a model for the rest of Africa. On British support, Baroness Ann and the CDS of UK lamented the withdrawal of BMATT due to UK's own dwindling resources in the face of the global credit crunch. However, they indicated that Ghana was now capable of standing on its own. Nonetheless, the Minister assured the CDS of UK's support of any private initiative to fill the vacuum created by the exit of BMATT from GAFCSC. With regards to world peace and security, the CDS was invited to attend a routine country security briefing at MOD UK in Whitehall. The meeting chaired by Ms Teresa Jones, Head of International Security Policy, centred on Africa and issues in Somalia, DR Congo and those in the Mano River Union were discussed. The CDS was accompanied by his Military Assistant, Colonel G.A. Biah and British Defence Adviser to Ghana, Lieutenant Colonel Will Mellows.