27-28 Apr. 2006

Sofia meeting lays groundwork for Riga Summit Event Programme of the meeting, speeches, photos and audio Multimedia Audio file of the Secretary General’s press conference MP3/7738Kb The informal meeting of NATO Foreign Ministers in Sofia, Bulgaria, 27-28 April, was an important “building block” for the November NATO Summit in Riga said NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer. The informal and highly political discussions helped to shape the Riga Summit agenda, Mr. De Hoop Scheffer told reporters. Charting the way forward “There's a clear sense with the Allies to move forward on partnerships,” the Secretary General said, adding that “the future of NATO’s partnerships and the wider process of Euro-Atlantic integration will be key issues in Riga. ” There was also broad support from Ministers for a NATO training initiative in the region of the Middle East, to help interested partners develop their capability to do modern peacekeeping operations. Ministers discussed the way ahead for NATO’s missions in Afghanistan, Darfur and Kosovo and met with their counterparts from Russia and Ukraine. In addition, a ‘Transatlantic dinner’, hosted by the Bulgarian Foreign Minister, brought together NATO and EU Foreign Ministers to discuss issues of common interest. Informal meeting of NATO Ministers are held several times a year; they have no fixed and no formal decisions are taken; they allow Ministers to discuss freely the key issues on the Alliance’s agenda.