Foreign Ministers will discuss full range of security issues

NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen will chair the talks at NATO Headquarters, which will start with a meeting of the North Atlantic Council. Foreign Ministers of the 28 Allied countries will further enhance transatlantic dialogue on a wide range of security issues facing NATO through and beyond 2014. They will also discuss developments in the Middle East and North Africa, where NATO countries have a shared interest to promote stability, reform and rule of law, and will take stock of NATO’s decision to augment Turkey’s air defence capabilities and to contribute to the de-escalation of the crisis along the Alliance’s south eastern border.

NATO Foreign Ministers will join their Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov in a meeting of the NATO-Russia Council (NRC).  The meeting will focus on areas where the Alliance and Russia can strengthen closer practical cooperation, as well as global security issues of relevance to the NRC, including Afghanistan and North Korea. The meeting is expected to agree to launch the next phase of the NRC Helicopter Maintenance Trust Fund which will expand the training of Afghan crews.

The ministerial will wrap up with a discussion of the Alliance’s ISAF mission with counterparts from the 22 non-NATO contributing nations. The Afghan Foreign Minister Zalmai Rassoul, the European Union’s High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Catherine Ashton and the UN Secretary General’s Special Representative Jan Kubis are also expected to attend. The meeting will assess progress in the mission and endorse efforts to develop accountable and effective funding for the Afghan forces after 2014.