Critical matters concerning the present and future of the North-Atlantic Alliance were discussed during the two-day NATO Defence Ministers’ Meetings which took place in Brussels (June 4 and 5 2013).
Our country was represented by the Minister of National Defence Mr. Panos Panagiotopoulos who, on the sidelines of the meeting, held bilateral contacts with many of his counterparts. Among them, the American Defence Minister Chuck Hagel, the Turkish Defence Minister Ismet Yilmaz, the French Minister Jean Yves Le Drian, the Canadian Defence Minister Peter Gordon MacKay, the Bulgarian Minister Angel-Petrov Naydenov and others.
Mr. Panagiotopoulos also had a short meeting concerning Greek-NATO issues with the Secretary General of the North-Atlantic Alliance Mr. Anders Fogh Rasmussen. During the meetings’ works, the following issues were discussed among others:
• The present and future of the North-Atlantic Alliance, in view of the Summit programmed for 2014.
• Defence planning based on Polling and Sharing, and the participation of member-states’ Armed Forces.
• NATO’s encounter with Cyber attacks, in the context of the North-Atlantic Alliance’s Cyber-Defence.
• The Libyan Government’s request for the provision of help in infrastructure, equipment, organisation and training, so as to form in this particular country a national guard.
• The mapping out of policy in Afghanistan for the year 2014.
