Summits are convened upon approval by the NAC at the level of Permanent Representatives (or Ambassadors) or Foreign and Defence Ministers. The decisions are then translated into action by the relevant actors within NATO, according to the area of competency and responsibility: the NAC's subordinate committees and NATO's command structure, which cover the whole range of the Organization's functions and activities. The summit declarations and communiqués are linked below for each NATO summit. These are public documents that explain the Alliance's decisions and reaffirm Allies' support for NATO policies. Typically, the decisions taken at a summit meeting are issued in declarations and communiqués. The 1997 Madrid and Paris Summits invited the first countries of the former Warsaw Pact – Czechia, Hungary and Poland – to join NATO, and established partnerships between NATO and Russia and Ukraine, while the 2002 Prague Summit saw major commitments to improving NATO's capabilities and transformed the military command structure. At the same summit, NATO established the North Atlantic Cooperation Council – a forum that officially brought together NATO and partner countries from Europe, Central Asia and the Caucasus. This was the first time ever that a NATO Strategic Concept was issued as a public document. A year later, in Rome, NATO Heads of State and Government published a Strategic Concept that reflected the new security environment. For instance, the first post-Cold War summit was held in London, in 1990, and outlined proposals for developing relations with Central and Eastern European countries. Many of NATO's summit meetings were milestones in the evolution of the Alliance. Items can relate to the internal functioning of the Alliance as well as NATO's relations with external partners. NATO summit meetings are effectively meetings of the North Atlantic Council (NAC) – the Alliance's principal political decision-making body – at its highest level, that of Heads of State and Government.ĭue to the political significance of summit meetings, agenda items typically address issues of overarching political or strategic importance. The next will be in July 2024 in Washington, D.C. The last NATO summit was in July 2023 in Vilnius, Lithuania.NATO summits are always held in a NATO member country and are chaired by the NATO Secretary General.They are meetings of the North Atlantic Council at its highest level possible – that of Heads of State and Government.Summits are used, for instance, to introduce new policy, invite new members into the Alliance, launch major initiatives and reinforce partnerships.They are not regular meetings, but important junctures in the Alliance's decision-making process. Summit meetings are often held at key moments in the Alliance's evolution.
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