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The North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) is an inter-governmental Alliance committed to ensuring the freedom and security of its 26 member countries (‘the Allies’). The NATO Allies are signatories to the North Atlantic Treaty. The fundamental provision of the Treaty is that the Alliance will, upon request, act as a collective defender intervening if an Ally is threatened by aggression.
NATO has no armed forces of its own. Alliance military capabilities are provided nationally by the Allies, and are co-ordinated by the NATO Command structure. NATO remains the cornerstone of the UK’s security policy, and the only organisation for collective defence in Europe.
At NATO Headquarters in Brussels, all member countries are represented by a Delegation . Heads of Government of the member countries meet at a Summit (ordinarily every 2 years) where they decide on the political direction of the Alliance. Riga hosted the previous summit in November 2006. The Summit built on the results of the NATO summits in Brussels in February 2005 and in Istanbul in June 2004.The UK believes that Riga provided an important opportunity for Allies to focus on the three key aspects of NATO's continuing transformation in response to new security threats and challenges:
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Operations, including
ISAF, as it takes on an increasing responsibility for security throughout Afghanistan;
The improvement of expeditionary capabilities, including progress towards full operational capability for the NATO Response Force;
Modernising NATO's Partnerships with non-NATO countries, to enhance and expand NATO's co-operation on security issues with the wider world.
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NATO Key Documents and Useful Links
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North Atlantic Treaty Organisation
The North Atlantic Treaty - Treaty of Washington
Euro-Atlantic Partnership Council Document
Riga Summit Declaration
