NATO Secretary General announces new summit dates

Anders Fogh Rasmussen, general secretary of NATO announces the dates of NATO's summit.


The summit is the follow up on the decisions taken at Lisbon last year and new important subjects is discussed in the summit as well.


One of the key issues in the summit is the support of Afghanistan's security forces fighting against Taliban.


According to Rasmussen, NATO is determined to support the Afghan security forces and its main focus is on continuing to train and educate them and to improve their capacity.


In the summit, the NATO heads of states are discussing the development of NATO-based missile defence system which serves the purpose of defending NATO European territories and population against ballistic-missile threats.


He hopes to reach an agreement with Russian government officials on missile-defence cooperation at the same time.


In the summit, the NATO nations are expected to find new ways on improving their security capabilities even in times of economic austerity. This approach is also know as "Smart Defence".


Rasmussen hopes that NATO broadens its cooperation with other countries, especially North Africa and Middle East. NATO's partnership with North African and Middle Eastern countries plays an important role in the NATO-led operation to protect the Libyan people.


This is the first NATO summit in the United States since 1999 when the Alliance celebrated its fiftieth anniversary in Washington.