Young professionals meet in Lisbon, ahead of NATO Summit
On 18 November, 70 young leaders from across Allied and Partner nations joined 120 Portuguese university students at the three-day Young Atlanticist Summit (YAS) to discuss the future of the Alliance. After Prague in 2003, Istanbul in 2004, Riga in 2006, Bucharest in 2008 and Strasbourg last year, Lisbon is the venue of the the sixth public gathering of young professionals.
Portuguese Prime Minister José Sócrates formally opened the event, underlining the number of important decisions that the Alliance leaders are about to take in Lisbon. Dr Stefanie Babst, NATO’s Acting Assistant Secretary General for Public Diplomacy, welcomed the participants on behalf of NATO.
Talking about the new Strategic Concept, she said: "Like all other high-performing organizations, NATO needs to have a new compelling vision in place, and that is exactly what the new Strategic Concept will be all about. It will frame NATO as an organisation that will be become more effective, more engaged and more efficient."
Underlining the importance for NATO to stay connected with the publics in Member countries and audiences across the globe, she encouraged the participants from Europe, Russia, North America, the Middle East, Brazil and South Africa to stay engaged on transatlantic security issues and share their views and ideas with NATO: "You matter to us because your opinions about some of the most pressing global security challenges of our time matter."
Her remarks prompted a series of lively debates with the Foreign Ministers from Estonia and Lithuania; senior military representatives from NATO, including the Chairman of the NATO Military Committee, Admiral de Paola and the ISAF Commander General David Petraeus; and security experts about the future of NATO’s role in Afghanistan and whether NATO was best positioned to meet new security challenges such as climate change and cyber attacks.
Additional highlights of the event will be a meeting with NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen and Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou later today, as well as with UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon tomorrow.
Eyal Raviv, a participant from Israel who runs a digital peace network, expressed a view what many participants seem to share: "I have come here not only to listen to political leaders. I think they should also listen to us, and I am more than prepared to share how I see we must advance security and peace, in particular in the Middle East."
Many participants used the meetings to update their blogs, Facebook, Twitter and other social web applications as speakers were talking. There should be more to come.