13 Feb. 2004

Parliamentarians discuss future of NATO at annual meeting Multimedia High resolution photos of the Meeting of the North Atlantic Council and NATO Parliamentary Assembly with Invitees Key links NATO Parliamentary Assembly Almost 150 parliamentarians from the NATO Parliamentary Assembly’s Defence and Security; Economics and Security; and Political Committees met in Brussels on 13 February to discuss the future of NATO. These meetings take place each year and enable members to exchange views with senior NATO and EU officials. On 16 February, the parliamentarians met with the North Atlantic Council, NATO's principal decision-making body. Of key concern to the parliamentarians is the progress being made by nations in fulfilling the commitments to force improvements agreed at NATO’s 2001 Prague Summit. Other areas addressed included transatlantic relations, NATO-EU co-operation, operations in Afghanistan and Iraq, and the prospects for NATO developing a strategy for political engagement with the greater Middle East. The NATO Parliamentary Assembly is made up of legislators from the member countries of the North Atlantic Alliance as well as 20 associate members. The Assembly provides a critical forum for international parliamentary dialogue on an array of security, political and economic matters. Its principal objective is to foster mutual understanding among Alliance parliamentarians of the key security challenges facing the transatlantic partnership.