Ohio gains Republic of Angola as State Partnership Program partner

The Ohio National Guard has added a third country, the Republic of Angola, to its longstanding and highly successful State Partnership Program. 

Built on the accomplishments of existing partnerships with Hungary, since 1993, and Serbia, since 2006, the Ohio National Guard looks to support and enhance U.S. engagement, cooperation, and assistance in Africa through this new relationship.

Currently, the U.S. Department of Defense State Partnership Program involves 115 nations paired with an assigned U.S. state or territorial National Guard serving as a mentor and colleague to its affiliated nation. This expansion of the partnership to include Angola increases the number of African nations participating in the State Partnership Program to 26.

The program, created in the 1990s to assist former Warsaw Pact and Eastern European nations emerging from Soviet influence, is based on the National Guard establishing military-to-military partnerships that expand to military-to-civilian and civilian-to-civilian relationships. At its core, the State Partnership Program promotes U.S. regional security cooperation intentions and Department of Defense goals while supporting key government, economic, education and social objectives.