Norway to host NATO conference

Around 100 delegates from about 50 countries are expected in Oslo in mid-September when Norway is to host a major Partnership for Peace conference on the theme of defence policy and strategy. This is the first time such a conference has been held in one of the NATO member countries. State Secretary Espen Barth Eide will give the main address at the conference which is being organised by the International Staff at NATO Headquarters in collaboration with the Ministry of Defence.

“Partnership for Peace” (PfP) is an important part of NATO’s endeavours to develop closer cooperation in matters of defence and security policy with countries that are not members of the Alliance. The aim is to promote democratisation and reforms in the area of security, to ensure stability and reduce threats to peace. A number of countries which have entered into individual PfP agreements with NATO have later become members of the Alliance.

In addition to the nations with PfP agreements, among them being Sweden, Finland, Russia and Ukraine, NATO has cooperation arrangements with different groups of countries. This applies to a number of countries in the Mediterranean area, some of the Gulf states and so-called “contact countries” such as Australia, New Zealand, Japan, South Korea and Argentina. All these nations have been invited to the Oslo conference. The same applies to representatives of international organisations such as the UN, EU, OSCE and the World Bank.

The delegates will be officials and officers of Director General or equivalent rank. At the conference they will be discussing cooperation between NATO and the partner countries, current security-related challenges and the participation of the partner countries in NATO operations (approximately 10% of the contributions to NATO-led operations now come from partner countries). The conference will be held on 17-18 September.