NATO - North Atlantic Treaty Organisation

Partnership for Peace Planning and Review Process

Launched in 1995, under the Partnership for Peace, the role of the Planning and Review Process (PARP) is to provide a structured basis for identifying partner forces and capabilities that could be available to the Alliance for multinational training, exercises and operations. The PARP also serves as a planning tool to guide and measure progress in defence and military transformation efforts. PARP is open to all PfP partners and, following the review of NATO’s partnerships policy in April 2011, participation in PARP is being opened to all other partners on a voluntary and case-by-case basis subject to NAC approval.

• Components

  In recognition of the value the Allies place on force planning, the 1994 Partnership for Peace (PfP) Framework Document committed NATO to developing a Planning and Review Process (PARP) with partner countries. Launched in 1995, the intent of the first cycle of this PARP was to provide a structured basis for identifying partner forces and capabilities that could be available to the Alliance for multinational training, exercises and operations. This process further enhances interoperability with Allied forces and promotes transparency.

  Over time, the PARP has developed in several ways in order to serve different purposes. In addition to improving interoperability and increasing transparency, the Alliance also uses the PARP to assess the progress of objectives and priorities in the defence and military fields set by Georgia and Ukraine in their Annual National Plans. The Alliance uses the PARP for the same purpose for partner countries with which NATO has Individual Partnership Action Plans or Membership Action Plans.

• Working mechanism

  The PARP is voluntary process. The decision to take part in it is up to each partner country. In order to participate, the interested Partner must first complete a PARP Survey, which clarifies the partner’s forces and capabilities available to the Alliance, its wider defence plans, the structure of its forces and its budgetary plans.

  Based on this information, the staff from both the civilian and military sides of the Alliance then develops a package of draft Partnership Goals. Next, the partner participates in bilateral talks on these goals with the civilian and military staffs. They then amend them as necessary, followed by discussions between the partner and all of the Allies. Finally, once this process is complete, the Ambassadors of the Allies and the partner country approve the Partnership Goals.

  The PARP continuously reviews the progress of each country. To this end, the NATO staff produces a PARP Assessment, which analyzes the advancement of the partner in meeting the agreed Partnership Goals. The PARP itself is a two-year process. Based on an updated PARP Survey, the partners and NATO agree to the Partnership Goals in even-numbered years and the PARP Assessment in odd-numbered years.

• Evolution

  Allies and participating partners jointly developed and agreed to the current PARP procedures and the collective documents related to the PARP. These collective documents, which continue to guide the PARP, include the PARP Ministerial Guidance, which the Allied and partner defence ministers approve; the Consolidated Report, which gives an overview of partners’ progress and contains a detailed section on the forces and capabilities that Allies could make available for crisis-response operations; and the Partnership Goal Summary Report.

  The PARP has moved beyond its primary focus on developing interoperability to also addressing the development of new capabilities. It has the additional function of providing a planning mechanism for the participating partners who are also European Union (EU) members. In this respect, it assists them in developing capabilities for both NATO-led and EU-led operations.

  In the past, the PARP was a vehicle for encouraging defence reform, but has now extended to the wider security sector. For countries that agree, Partnership Goals now also cover reform and development objectives for Ministries of Emergencies, Interior and Finance, as well as Border Guard Services and Security Services.