At a conference discussing NATO’s new strategic concept, and Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said a new missile defense system should be an opportunity to bring NATO and Russia together: “We need a missile defence system that includes not just all countries of NATO, but Russia too. One security roof, that we build together, that we support together, and that we operate together. One security roof that protects us all.”
Rasmussen and Madeleine Albright, who chairs the Group of Experts on NATO’s new Strategic Concept, joined a high-level panel to discuss the Alliance’s future in the face of new and unpredictable threats, the alliance said in a statement.
The session was part of the three-day Brussels Forum organized by the U.S. German Marshall Fund. Dubbed “NATO’s Future in an Unpredictable and Globalizing World,” the panel also featured Canadian Defence Minister Peter MacKay and Bulgarian Foreign Minister Nickolay Mladenov.
The panel members discussed NATO’s role in missile defense, the North Atlantic Treaty’s Article V on collective defense, and the balance between strategic reassurance and engagement with Russia.
They also discussed how NATO needs to change to stay relevant in a world where threats are constantly evolving.
In early May, Albright will provide the Secretary General with the Group of Experts’ recommendations for NATO’s new Strategic Concept, which–once agreed by all Allied countries in November–will guide the Alliance’s activities in the years to come.
The Brussels Forum is an annual high-level meeting of North American and European political, corporate and intellectual leaders who gather to address key challenges facing both sides of the Atlantic.