President Karzai, Mr Secretary General,

First of all, let me join the others in welcoming President Karzai to our meeting, and underline our strong support for his efforts to bring stability to his country. I listened to your intervention with great interest. In response to what you said, let me emphasise that Allies and partners alike must operate side by side to assist in creating a secure environment for the upcoming elections in Afghanistan. The enemies of an open and democratic society are strong. But together we will consolidate the victory of democracy and human rights. Norway will stand with you.

The NATO-led operations in Afghanistan and in the Balkans are examples of how the Alliance and its partners are contributing to stability and security both within and outside Europe.

The partner countries continue to make important contributions to these operations. Norway therefore greatly appreciates the opportunity presented by this summit to take our partnership one step further.

We will be doing so by deepening and broadening our co-operation with individual partner nations, and by tailoring the partnership to the security needs of each region.

And we will be doing so by further enhancing our political dialogue and by developing closer co-operation on operational issues.

We should continue to develop the partnership in line with NATO’s own transformation, and involve our partners in the relevant exercises and planning activities, as suggested by Sweden and Finland.

At the same time we are taking on important new tasks, such as combating trafficking in human beings. The commitment of allies and partners alike to fighting this modern-day slave trade will strengthen our partnership. By facing new challenges together, we are ensuring that our partnership is even closer and stronger than before.