Defence Minister Ante Kotromanovic participates on 9 and 10 October 2012 at an informal meeting of NATO defence ministers in Brussels, Kingdom of Belgium.
Defence Minister Ante Kotromanovic participates on 9 and 10 October 2012 at an informal meeting of NATO defence ministers in Brussels, Kingdom of Belgium.
Topics of the meeting include review of progress in implementing the Defence Package adopted by the Heads of State and Government at the Chicago Summit and the discussion on NATO operations - ISAF and KFOR. The adoption of updated Guidelines for Nuclear Planning and Consultation, as well as a discussion on the capabilities and ways of achieving them in the next period, taking into account the difficult economic situation, is expected.
The meeting began by discussion of various reports, such as the report on the reform of NATO Defence Transformation and Progress in Capabilities, Status of the NATO Missile Defence, and Status of Cyber Defence. The defence ministers also discussed the progress in the area of ??capability building using multinational cooperation through the concept of Smart Defence. The debate was also conducted on improving the process of NATO defence planning, which results would be more visible and more politically relevant. This includes not only the amounts spent on the defence, but also the effects of these investments.
On the next session of the Nuclear Planning Group (NPG) defence ministers provided further guidance regarding nuclear weapons in accordance with the NATO Defence Deterrence and Posture.
During the dinner open discussion is expected on the possibilities of developing capabilities, forces and structures required by the Alliance at the time of severe economic crisis. The ambition is to maintain the level of capabilities and interoperability achieved in operations, primarily in Afghanistan. Ministers are also expected to provide prioritization guidelines for defence spending, both at the national level, and NATO level. Ministers will also discuss the NATO common funding, and its efficient use.
On the second day, October 10, NATO ministers will meet with non-NATO KFOR contributing countries. The emphasis will be on a review of current and future security challenges in Kosovo, and the future relations between NATO and the Kosovo Security Forces, once KSF reach full operational capability.
The ministerial meeting will end with the session of NATO ministers with non-NATO ISAF contributing countries. This meeting will be also attended by the Afghan Defence Minister, and the senior EU and UN representatives in Afghanistan. The focus of the discussion is expected to be on the redeployment from Afghanistan by the end of the ISAF mission. Post-2014 mission was not designed as a combat mission, but the mission where NATO and its partners conduct training, advising and assisting the Afghan Security Forces.
Upon completion of the NATO defence ministerial meeting, in the organization of the Federal Republic of Germany as the lead nation, there will be a meeting of defence ministers of troop contributing nation in the ISAF Regional Command - North (RC - North). It is expected that the meeting would focus on international engagement during 2013 and 2014 and on the redeployment from Afghanistan by the end of the ISAF mission.
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