Following the presentation of a report, drawn up by a Group of Experts appointed by NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen, containing recommendations for the Alliance’s New Strategic Concept, Federal Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle issued this statement today (17 May) in Berlin:

“I welcome this important report by the Group of Experts, as it represents a substantial and comprehensive analysis of the challenges facing NATO in the globalized 21st-century world. The report is a valuable step towards elaborating NATO’s New Strategic Concept and thus towards enhancing security in the Euro Atlantic area.

On the basis of the experts’ report, the Federal Government will play an active part in the ongoing work on the New Strategic Concept. We share the Group of Experts’ view that the Concept should build on NATO’s current foundations and further develop them in the light of the changed security environment.

These include not only NATO’s core function as a defensive Alliance which guarantees its members’ security under Article 5 of the Washington Treaty, but also its strategic relations with its major partners, in particular with Russia. However, we must also strengthen the Alliance as a political forum and give it a more active role in nuclear and conventional disarmament and arms control.”