16 June 2006

Secretary General discusses NATO Summit agenda in Iceland News 16 June 2006 - NATO NATO Secretary General to visit Iceland Multimedia Background briefing by the NATO Spokesman (.MP3/27846kb) NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer visited Reykjavik on 16 June, for discussions on the preparations for the November Summit of NATO Heads of State and Government in Riga, Latvia. The Secretary General met with Prime Minister Geir Haarde and Foreign Minister Valgerdur Sverrisdottir. They discussed a range of political and military issues related to the agenda of the Summit meeting in the Latvian capital Riga. US-Iceland negotiations They also discussed the United States decision to make changes to the agreement it has with Iceland for defence cooperation, in particular on air defence. Mr. De Hoop Scheffer and Prime Minister Haarde talked about the current status of the bilateral negotiations between the United States and Iceland. The Secretary General urged the two governments to arrive at a mutually satisfactory agreement. “I’ll press for a bilateral solution,” he told reporters during a news conference, “If for one reason or another, that bilateral trajectory might fail, the parties can always call on me, the NATO Secretary General.”