Blog Posts tagged with "NATO-Russia council"

Many of you are aware of the NATO Summit in Lisbon this weekend. I'm spending much of this week preparing for it, and thought I'd share with you a few thoughts on the summit's importance and what we hope to achieve in this key forum.

Currently, 28 NATO Heads of States and Governments (HoSG) are expected to convene at the NATO Summit. Over a series of meetings, our leaders will discuss a handful of issues central to the future security of Europe and North America, focusing on the new strategic concept and its subsequent implementation: crisis management; missile defense; the comprehensive approach; cyber security; and NATO headquarters and command structure reform.

The status of operations and training in Afghanistan will of course be high on the agenda, and, in a 48-nation HoSG forum dedicated to the topic, I'll be making remarks on this subject to the assembled leaders.

Also, the NATO-Russia Council will convene on 20 November. Russia's president will participate, along with NATO Heads of States and Governments, in order to explore means to enhance practical cooperation on areas such as Afghanistan, missile defense, disarmament, and countering proliferation, terrorism, narcotics and piracy.

In short, the NATO Summit is expected to underscore the importance of NATO today, reaffirming and modernizing its security and defense mandate. Many, if not all, of the issues that will be addressed in Lisbon are central to our work here at Allied Command Operations (ACO), as well as at EUCOM.

I hope all of you follow the proceedings closely, and please feel free to share any thoughts and impressions as you follow the discourse.

Adm. James Stavridis
Commander, U.S. European Command and
Supreme Allied Commander, Europe