VIENNA, May 4 (Xinhua) -- A high-level training course for United Nations peacekeeping missions opened here Monday, the first of its kind in Austria.

    A total of 26 high-ranking officials from 19 countries are attending the UN Senior Mission Leaders Course, which is designed for military, police and political leaders who might be tapped to serve in international peace operations.

    The two-week training course is organized by the UN Department of Peacekeeping Operations in cooperation with the Austrian Federal Ministry of Defense and Sports.

    The course is aimed at enabling participants to learn specific know-how, the way of contacting people with different cultural background and team-oriented and efficient leadership management.

    International peacekeeping operations will need more multinational cooperation and the coordination and management will become more complex, General Raimund Schittenhelm, the president of the Austrian National Defense Academy, told the opening ceremony.

    Austrian Chief of General Staff General Edmund Entacher told Xinhua that Austria hopes to contribute to building a more peaceful world through holding this course.

    "This training course is aimed at creating and maintaining peace," he said.

    Austria has sent more than 60,000 soldiers and about 1,000 policemen to take part in international peacekeeping missions since 1960. About 1400 Austrian soldiers and policemen are currently serving in such missions.