Unic Press UK: Heads of State and Government that constitute The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) gathered in London yesterday, Tuesday, 3 December 2019 to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the bloc and hold a leaders’ parley aiming to strengthen the Alliance.
Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II hosted a reception on Tuesday for the NATO leaders at Buckingham Palace. In attendance were NATO’s Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, the UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson, the United States President Donald Trump, and the other leaders of the Alliance’s 29 member countries.
Earlier on Tuesday, Stoltenberg during Questions and Answers session at ”NATO Engages: Innovating the Alliance” conference said:
“What I expect the leaders to agree is that we will conduct a process, a reflection on how to further strengthen the political dimension of NATO. Exactly how we organise that, I expect the Allies to ask me to put forward proposals. But, but the important thing is not exactly how we organise such a reflection. The important thing is that we reflect on not whether we need NATO, not a question of the fundamentals of NATO, but that we reflect on how can we further strengthen NATO, especially the political dimension of NATO. And I think that’s a good thing, because we are 29 Allies, from both sides of the Atlantic. Of course, there are differences. It would be strange if 29 Allies with different political parties, different histories, different geography, always agreed on everything. But the lesson we have learned from history is that despite these differences, we have always been able to unite around our core task: to protect and defend each other, because it is in our international . . . our national security interests to do so. And we have to sometimes remember that this is not the first time there are differences between NATO Allies. Going back to the Suez crisis in 56, or when France decided to leave the military cooperation in 66, or . . . or the Iraq War in 2003, and many other examples, there have been differences. But this Alliance has shown incredible strength, resilience and ability to deal with these differences without weakening the core task of this Alliance.”
Today, Wednesday, 4 December 2019, NATO leaders will meet at The Grove Hotel to further address global security challenges/threats, and take decisions to ensure the Alliance forces readiness to tackle future issues. They will have a strategic discussion on Russia/China and arms control.
