Finnish Defence Forces International Centre FINCENT ( fi, Puolustusvoimien kansainvälinen keskus PVKVK, sv, Försvarsmaktens internationella center) is a unit of

Finnish Defense Forces The Finnish Defence Forces ( fi, Puolustusvoimat, sv, Försvarsmakten) are the military of Finland. The Finnish Defence Forces consist of the Finnish Army, the Finnish Navy and the Finnish Air Force. In wartime the Finnish Border Guard (which i ...

located in

Helsinki Helsinki ( or ; ; sv, Helsingfors, ) is the capital, primate, and most populous city of Finland. Located on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, it is the seat of the region of Uusimaa in southern Finland, and has a population of . The city ...

. FINCENT organizes courses, seminars and exercises with the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been de ...

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be a centre for harmoniz ...

and

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, ; french: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord, ), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 member states – 28 European and two No ...

History

FINCENT was established in 1969 as the United Nations Training Centre (Finnish: ''YK-Koulutuskeskus'') which was based in

Niinisalo Niinisalo is a village in the municipality of Kankaanpää in the region of Satakunta in Finland. It is known for the Niinisalo Garrison which is the base of the Finnish Army unit Artillery Brigade. The population of Niinisalo is 996 (2009). The ...

. In 2001 the name was changed to Finnish Defence Forces International Centre. In the 2008 re-organization the crisis management operations were handed to the

Pori Brigade The Pori Brigade ( fi, Porin prikaati), based in Huovinrinne, Säkylä and Niinisalo, Kankaanpää is a Finnish Army unit, directly under the Army headquarters. It comprises six battalion-level units and also trains soldiers for the Finnish Ra ...

and the other functions were transferred to Hyrylä. In 2015 FINCENT became part of Finnish National Defence University and was relocated to Helsinki. The FINCENT field exercise area still works in Niinisalo.

Sources

Finnish Defence Forces International Centre FINCENT
The Finnish Defense Forces Military of Finland {{Finland-mil-stub