The Minister of State at the Federal Foreign Office, Werner Hoyer, today (Wednesday, 13 January) travels to Oslo for a seminar to prepare NATO’s new Strategic Concept. Minister of State Hoyer will give a speech at the seminar on Thursday (14 January) on shaping the relationship between NATO and Russia.

During his time in Oslo, Minister of State Hoyer will meet Norwegian Foreign Minister Jonas Gahr Støre and former US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright. The talks will focus on the continuation of work to draw up NATO’s new Strategic Concept. Ms Albright is chair of a twelve-person Group of Experts charged by NATO’s Secretary General last year with carrying out the groundwork for the Alliance’s new Strategic Concept. Germany is represented in this group by retired ambassador Dr Hans-Friedrich von Ploetz.

Participants from all NATO member states as well as the Alliance’s partner countries are expected to attend the two-day seminar. The event, organized jointly by academics from Germany, Norway, Spain and Romania, will concentrate on the future of the Alliance’s partnerships. This is the third in a series of four seminars.

The decision to establish a Group of Experts was taken by the NATO heads of state and government at the Alliance’s anniversary summit in Strasbourg and Kehl in 2009 when they issued the mandate for the development of a new Strategic Concept. The Strategic Concept is NATO’s prime policy document. It describes current developments and outlines tasks the Alliance is likely to face in the next 10 to 15 years. NATO’s current Strategic Concept dates from 1999.