19 May 2006

Secretary General visits Portugal NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer visited Lisbon on 19 May for discussions which focused on the political preparations for NATO’s Riga Summit this November. The Secretary General met with Portuguese President Anibal Cavaco Silva, Prime Minister José Socrates, Foreign Minister Diogo Freitas do Amaral, Defence Minister Luis Amado and the President of the National Assembly, Jaime Gama. The talks focused on the agenda of the upcoming meeting of NATO Heads of State and Government, which will be held in the capital of Latvia, Riga, on 28 and 29 November. The Secretary General also discussed preparations for a major NATO Response Force exercise in June and July on the Cape Verde Islands. The exercise, Steadfast Jaguar, will be the first time that the various components of the NATO Response Force come together in an exercise and will be a key test of the Response Force’s capabilities. Mr. De Hoop Scheffer also visited the NATO Command Group Headquarters in Lisbon.