NATO Talk around the Brandenburger Tor
The Secretary General of NATO, Mr. Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, and German Chancellor Angela Merkel inaugurated a new communication platform for transatlantic security issues on the margins of the annual Atlantic Treaty Association’s General Assembly in Berlin, Germany from 10 to 12 November.
The project, entitled “NATO Talk Around the Brandenburger Tor”, consisted in a series of panel discussions, or fora, with senior officials, NATO Permanent Representatives, journalists and experts. Participants could choose their conference programme according to their interests, and walk between the different panels which were hosted by major embassies - United States of America, United Kingdom, France, Hungary, Ukraine and Russia - around the Brandenburger Tor.
Around 1000 participants attended the panels, which covered major topics on NATO's current agenda:
- The U.S., Europe, NATO and the Challenges of the Eastern Dimension
- Reforming NATO
- NATO in Afghanistan: Advancing Security and Promoting Peace
- European Security and Defence Policy (ESDP) and NATO
- Ukraine’s Role in Addressing New Security Challenges in the Euro-Atlantic Area
- Red Lines of the Russian Foreign and Security Policy.
The event was jointly developed by the German Atlantic Treaty Association (DAG), the Atlantic Treaty Association (ATA) and NATO's Public Diplomacy Division (PDD).