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Lisbon NATO Summit 2010
By the Portuguese Delegation
“The people of Portugal have been unbelievingly kind and generous to us.”
Barack Obama, President of the USA
In the past 18th and 19th November, some of the most important worldwide leaders were in Lisbon for the NATO Summit. The heads of state and government from the countries of the Alliance took place in an historic Summit, considered one of the most important since the establishment of NATO. In this memorable event, Hamid Karzai, president of Afghanistan, and Dmitri Medvedev, president of the Russian Federation, also took part in the negotiations of this Summit, leading to some historic outcomes.
During the Summit, there were three very important points of negotiation between the NATO leaders and the Afghan and Russian authorities.
First of all and exclusively related to the NATO member-states it was discussed the new strategic concept for the organization. Created in 1949, NATO´s objective was to face the Soviet treat during the Cold War. Since the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, NATO has struggled to adapt to a new set of challenges for the 21th century, such as cyber terrorism and global conflicts outside the NATO member-states. With the approval of this new strategic concept NATO is now ready to face this new set of challenges sometimes unpredictable, defuse and asymmetrical in a world more multipolar than ever. The new strategic concept also regards a new civil role of NATO in the resolution of crises situations.
It was also debated the issue of the conflict in Afghanistan. President Hamid Karzai, supported by NATO, was present in the negotiations and signed an agreement with NATO in order to proceed to a transition phase, where the afghan authorities will be given gradually the responsibility of the security in Afghanistan. In this process, NATO will attend to a more significant training and formation of the afghan security forces. The process will be completed by the gradual retreat of foreign troops from Afghanistan until 2014, when the process will be fully completed.
Finally, an historic agreement with Russia has been reached. After agreeing in the anti-missile continental defense, Russian and NATO have put behind all the cleavages of the Cold War and initiated what it is expected to be a long and prosperous partnership between Russian and NATO and the western countries. From now on NATO will regard Russia as a partner rather than an adversary. Also the new anti-missile defense agreement was one of the most important topics of this Summit with the collaboration of the Russian authorities, represented by President Dmitri Medvedev, and is the answer of the NATO member-states and its partners to guarantee the security of the millions of inhabitants of the member-states as well as of the entire European continent. In parallel with this major Summit, a US-EU Summit also toke part intended to strengthen the relations between the USA and the EU.
This was considered to be an historic Summit attending to the agreements reached concerning the new strategic concept, the relations with Russia and the issue in Afghanistan and the Middle East. The Lisbon NATO Summit of 2010 will be reminded as an historical mark of NATO’s history as it prepared NATO for the 21th century challenges and opportunities, a century where the rules of the political game will not be dictated by the Western potencies alone. |
