6 June 2005

Sofia seminar to address challenge of WMD proliferation Event 28-29/06/2005 - NATO Sofia seminar - topics of discussion (PDF/14Kb) Senior officials from across the globe will discuss the challenge of the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction (WMD) at a high-level NATO seminar in the Bulgarian capital Sofia, 28-29 June 2005. This is the second NATO seminar on the challenges of WMD proliferation. Addressing key issues Seventeen high-level speakers – senior officials and academics from the 46 NATO and partner countries, the Alliance's Mediterranean Dialogue partners, countries from the Istanbul Cooperation Initiative and the Asia-Pacific, will discuss some of the key challenges related to WMD proliferation. Over one hundred participants are expected at the event, which will explore such topics as the Alliance’s priorities vis-à-vis WMD, the international community’s initiatives to prevent proliferation, the particular challenges of biological agents, as well as the individual contributions to non-proliferation of a number of participating countries. The first NATO seminar on WMD proliferation was held in 2004 at the NATO Defence College in Rome. This year it is hosted by the Bulgarian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. This seminar series is the first event on proliferation issues of such broad thematic and geographical scope to be organized on an annual basis by NATO, under the auspices of its Senior Politico-Military Group on Proliferation.