Message from ata president Dr. Karl A. Lamers Ladies and Gentlemen
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- Sergei Konoplyov
- Akhaltsikhe International Security Seminar in Georgia
- NATO sum- mit simulation game
- ATLANTIC COUNCIL OF ALBANIA
- THE DANISH ATLANTIC TREATY ASSOCIATION
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Janis Garisons, Minister for Reintegration of Georgia Te- muri Yakobashvili, Deputy Director of Latvian Institute of International Affairs Andris
tion” policy analyst Vladimir Socor, Harvard University Black Sea Security program di- rector Sergei Konoplyov, dep- uty head of European Union Monitoring Mission Darius Jur-
In order to promote Georgia’s integration into NATO, LATO with the support of Ministry of Defence of Latvia has been implementing its initia- tives together with the Georgian NGO “New Generation-New Initiative” since 2007. Other joint projects include publishing of a notebook book for Georgian secondary schools “NATO and Security of Georgia”.
In
December 2007
LATO and the Ministry of De- fence of Latvia took a patronage over “NATO corner” at the Ak- haltsikhe State University lo- cated in the town of Akhaltsikhe. LATO is determined to continue to develop Latvia’s and Geor- gia’s cooperation, information and education about NATO and issues of security and defence, all the while actively cooperating with the local Georgian NGO sec- tor.
NATO summit simulation
February 16 – April 15, 2009
Latvian Transatlantic organisation (LATO) in cooperation with Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Latvia, as well with support of NATO Public Diplo- macy Division is organizing a com- petition for Latvia’s students and active youngsters „NATO 60 years
The goal of the competition is to access and promote the knowl- edge and interest among Latvia’s students about NATO issues and international and Latvian security, thus encouraging political involve- ment of young generation, inde- pendent research work, improve- ment of analysis and the knowledge and interest among Latvia’s stu- dents about the issues of NATO A T A N E W S L E T T E R W I N T E R / S P R I N G 2 0 0 9 7
8 improvement of analysis and erudition as well as un- derstanding of the decision making processes.
In the framework of this project students and youngsters (18-26 years old) have been asked to partner up in teams of two and together to write an es- say entitled “NATO 60 years of experience – quo vadis?” in order to analyze the political and military as- pects of NATO (NATO part- nerships, further enlarge- ment, NATO’s military role – Article 5 and out-of-area operations), as well as Lat- via’s experience as a NATO member state.
The essays have been submitted in March. The authors of the top 28 essays will be invited to take part in the NATO sum-
ganised by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Latvia.
During the game, commission of experts from Ministry of Foreign Affairs, LATO, as well several uni- versities and non-
governmental organizations will assess the level of ac- tivity, knowledge and be- haviour of the players and choose 6 best teams who will receive the following prizes: 1 st
- 3 rd place (3 teams, 6 persons) – excur- sion to the NATO Head- quarters in Brussels; 4 th
place (1 team) – book store gift token, worth 150 €, 5 th
gift token, worth 100 €, and 6 th place (1 team) - book store gift token, worth 60€. “NATO Information Jeep in Schools of Lat- via” March 30 – May 15, 2009
experts from Ministry of De- fence,
National Armed
Forces (NAF), LATO, sev- eral embassies and univer- sities will visit Latvian sec- ondary schools (special at- tention will be devoted to schools from rural or re- mote areas) and inform schoolchildren and their teachers about NATO, its work and 60 years experi- ence, as well as about Lat- via’s achievements in the Alliance since 2004, when Latvia become a fully- fledged NATO member.
During the school seminar information materi- als and souvenirs about NATO, NAF, Latvian mem- bership in NATO and LATO will be distributed. It is planned also to demon- strate a film shot by the Lat- vian Ministry of Defence, which is devoted to the 5 th
anniversary of
Latvia’s membership into NATO (in a cooperation with the State
Agency “Tevijas sargs”). Most active young- sters will get practical pre- sents and a chance to go for a ride in the jeep.
The main goal of the project is to inform and educate pupils and teach- ers about NATO, its goals and role in Latvia’s security policy, as well about the benefits and costs of the Latvia’s membership.
This information cam- paign will cover all the re- gions of Latvia: 1 st week: March 30 - April 2, 2009 + April 14, 2009 – Vidzeme (10 secondary schools, 6 districts) (April 3-April 13 - school holidays) 2 nd week: April 15 – April 21, 2009 – Latgale (10 sec- ondary schools, 6 districts) 3 rd week: April 22 – April 28, 2009 – Zemgale (10 secondary schools, 6 dis- tricts)
4 th week: April 29 – May 7, 2009 – Kurzeme (10 secon- dary schools, 6 districts) 5 th
2009 – Rīga and Riga’s dis- trict (10 secondary schools) International Conference “The Future of NATO – Challenges for NATO Members and Its Part- ners ”
On the occasion of the NATO 60 th Anniversary and Latvia’s 5th Anniversary of the
membership into
the Alliance, Latvian Transatlantic organisation (LATO) together with the Latvian
Institute of
International Affairs (LAI) would like to facilitate open and balanced discussions on the NATO’s 60 years and Latvia’s 5 years experi- ence of NATO member- ship, and therefore with the support of Latvian Ministry of Defence, NATO, Latvian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Canadian Embassy in Riga are organising interna- tional conference entitled “The Future of NATO – Challenges for NATO Mem- bers and Its Partners” on April 18, 2009 in Riga.
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Representatives from state
institutions, non-
governmental sector and educa- tion/research institutions, as well as guests from other NATO member states and its partners will be encouraged to take part in high level discussions about the experience, reforms and transformation of NATO, input of the new member states, NATO- led mission in Afghanistan and further enlargement of the Alli- ance, providing their view and assessment. Russia and its sug- gested new security framework in transatlantic space will be one more point of discussion.
photo exhibition “Afghanistan’s reconstruction” will be organised in cooperation with the Cana- dian embassy and State Agency “Tēvijas sargs ” A T A N E W S L E T T E R W I N T E R / S P R I N G 2 0 0 9 9
ATLANTIC COUNCIL OF ALBANIA -Press Conference followed by a cocktail event, April 5, 2009 -13th Annual International Conference of the Atlantic Council of Albania, dedicated to the 60th anniversary entitled "NATO-60 years of Contribution to the International Security", March 20, 2009 -NATO Anniversary Lectures by young professors with stu- dents and other youngsters, Tirana and other main cities of Albania, February-May 2009. For more information please visit http://atlantic-council-al.com
This year the Danish ATA chapter has planned several activities marking the 60th anniversary of NATO with an aim to comment on the significance of the 60th anniversary, the prospect of NATO enlargement among other pressiing issues.
of NATO. The book is based on expert analysis, reviews and articles and includes prefaces written by the Danish foreign minister as well as the NATO Secretary General (tbc).
all of the themes of the above mentioned book. The conference was DATA's official marking of the NATO anniversary. More details to follow.
consist of lectures and debate meetings accessible to students as well as people generally interested in NATO. In the summer of 2009, DATA hosts its annual and 24th consecutive "Danish Atlantic Youth Seminar“. DAYS will be held at the Ålborg Airbase, 6/7-12/7.
The guest list includes a wide range of international students and experts representing about 20 different nationalities. The primary focus of the seminar will be a crisis management in Georgia, Ukraine and the Southern Caucasus. Furthermore DATA will be inviting an official NATO Conference, which dealt with the topic of the EU and it's role as a regional peace broker.
http://www.atlant.dk 1 0 W I N T E R / S P R I N G 2 0 0 9 A T A N E W S L E T T E R
Leading Security Confer-
ence in Central
Europe
Shaping Euro-
Atlantic Agenda
www.globsec.org GLOBSEC Conference– January 2009 Compiled by Tomáš Siviček, Slovak Atlantic Commission
On January 29, 2009, the Slovak Atlantic Commission organized the fourth annual interna- tional security conference GLOBSEC 2009 in Bratislava. GLOBSEC conference is the Leading For- eign and Security Policy Conference in Central Europe, which aims to contribute to shaping of the Euro-Atlantic Security Agenda and is searching for answers to the most pressing issues of interna- tional affairs and security.
The conference focus was centred on transatlantic relations after the inauguration of Barack Obama for the US President, the future of the relations with Russia and the 60 th Anniversary of NATO and its future perspectives. The Conference took place under the Auspices of the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Slovak Republic and was co-organised by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Slovak Republic, the German Marshall Fund of the United States, Representation of the Euro- pean Commission in Slovakia and the Euro-Atlantic Centre, with support of the NATO Public Diplo- macy Division, International Visegrad Fund, Embassy of Kingdom of the Netherlands and other partners.
Atlantic Commission said the conference was taking place in a special time – in a year when NATO is celebrating its 60 th anniversary - “60 years of transatlantic vision in practice”, which had brought an unprecedented stability, strength and wealth to the NATO Member nations. Mr. Káčer also stressed that it was 5 years since Slovakia had joined the Alliance and the European Union, as well as 10 years since the last NATO Strategic concept had been adopted. He said he expected that “this year will test the old institutions”. The intention of the conference was to outline the basic expectations and challenges to the transatlantic relation- ship after the inauguration of the new U.S. president and to discuss how to deal with a resurgent Russia.
vak Republic underlined that the one of the best answers to the unpredictable development of the current inter- national security situation, is building of alliances, which could help to face actual and future dangers and chal- lenges. With regards to the upcoming NATO summit, she defined three core issues: reaffirming the relevance and strength of Article 5, non-article 5 operations as “coalitions of the willing” and the lingering defence-spending gap (including disparity in deployment) between the US and the European NATO members. She also pointed out that the gas crisis had fundamentally altered the NATO’s and EU’s perception of Russia and Ukraine as fully reli- able partners. She concluded her keynote speech with a conviction that membership of Slovakia in the EU and NATO has enhanced Slovakia’s international standing and its responsibility for positive development in the inter- national arena, and she hoped for ‘unity and alliance’ to be the key message of the conference GLOBSEC 2009. 1 ST P ANEL : NATO AT 60: T OWARDS A N EW S TRATEGY ?
The first panel was chaired by Mr. Tomáš Valášek, Director of the Center for Euro- pean Reform, London, and the member of the Board of the Slovak Atlantic Commission. The panel was supposed to give suggestions to changes of the current NATO Strategic Concept, which was created before the terrorist attacks, before the crisis in Georgia, before the gas cri- sis, and to give answers to expectations and limitations in the time of the financial crisis. The discussion tested even the necessity of this document and willingness and preparedness of NATO member states for such a significant debate. It showed the differences among allies on Russia, Afghanistan and the perception of the Article 5.
Mr. Jean François Bureau, NATO Assistant Secretary General for Public Diplomacy, confirmed that the upcoming summit should bring answers to the changed security environment in the form of a short political statement “Declaration on the Alliance Se- curity”, which should create a forum and a base for discussions about the new strategic concept. Mr. Bureau outlined the following reasons why the need for a new strategic concept: “changes in the strategic landscape”, new missions – especially in Afghanistan and lessons learnt there, the need for a comprehensive approach; new non-military security challenges such as cyber defence, energy se- curity, maritime awareness, proliferation of WMD. He confirmed that NATO is going to be more and more a political-military organization.
still the same - to defend the territorial integrity of the members. Although the mission in Afghanistan is often de- scribed as a new and important challenge and test for the Alliance, he suggested that “we should not create an impression that it is our basic responsibility”. He expects the Declaration on NATO security to emphasise the unity of the transatlantic community based on shared interests and values. Mr. Rotfeld reminded that in Bucha- rest the Ukraine was given a promise of Euro-Atlantic perspective and he appealed this promise for Ukraine should be taken seriously. He emphasised the importance of a unified NATO and EU strategy towards Russia.
Mr. Rob de Wijk, Director of The Hague Center for Strategic Studies, is convinced there is a need for a completely new Strategic concept. According to him, there is division of opinion in Europe about the NATO role in Article 5 and non-Article 5 mission. In his view, if NATO fails in Afghanistan, it will lose its credibility to apply Article 5. However, he is in favour of handing over the security to Afghan authorities as soon as possible. Ac- cording to his view energy security will be the key challenge for international security. In this context, he raised the question of the out of area operations in order to gain the access to resources. In his view, NATO will have to adapt more on this challenge and be ready to defend energy sources and routes.
Mr. Robin Shepherd, Chatham House, Senior Research Fellow for Europe, London, is of opinion that questions of capabilities and financial side should be put into the frame of political will. He pointed out the bitter- ness in the UK, USA, Canada and some other countries about other NATO member states not pulling their weight. According to him, Afghanistan is an existential test for the Alliance.
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1 2 2 ND P ANEL : T RANSATLANTIC R ELATIONS A FTER C HANGING P OLITICAL E LITES Mr. Pavol Demeš, Director of the German Marshall Fund of the US, Bratislava, chaired the second panel focused of the very recent inauguration of the U.S. president Barack Obama, which gave a unique opportunity to analyze how deep the possible changes in the policy of the new administration might be really expected and to predict also the impact on Euro-Atlantic relations as well as on the global security environment.
According to Mr. John C. Hulsman, German Council on Foreign Relations, the expectations from the new US President are too high. The Europeans can expect “music to their ears”, since on one hand Barack Obama is going to agree with Europeans, but on the other hand the Europeans will be expected to do a lot more. And he illustrated this by stat- ing the example of the closing Guantanamo or the demand to raise European contributions in Afghanistan. He pointed out the lack of common positions between the allies and the hesitation to tackle hard issues and gave some examples regarding Afghanistan.
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