The North Atlantic Treaty, also known as the Washington Treaty, forms the legal basis of, and is implemented by, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). The treaty was signed in Washington, D.C., on 4 April 1949.
Jens Stoltenberg is a Norwegian politician who served as the 13th secretary general of NATO from 2014 to 2024. A member of the Norwegian Labour Party, he was previously the 34th prime minister of Norway from 2000 to 2001 and again from 2005 until 2013.
Anders Fogh Rasmussen is a Danish politician who was the 24th Prime Minister of Denmark from November 2001 to April 2009 and the 12th Secretary General of NATO from August 2009 to October 2014. He became founder of political consultancy Rasmussen Global and founded the Alliance of Democracies Foundation. He serves as a senior adviser to Citigroup. He also served as a senior advisor at the Boston Consulting Group.
The NATO Response Force (NRF) is a high-readiness NATO rapid deployment force comprising land, sea, air, and special forces units capable of being deployed quickly within short notice. The NRF currently comprises more than 500,000 troops. Its forces include units from several non-NATO member partners, including Ukraine, and Georgia.
The 2006 Riga summit or the 20th NATO Summit was a NATO summit held in the Olympic Sports Centre, Riga, Latvia from 28 to 29 November 2006. The most important topics discussed were the War in Afghanistan and the future role and borders of the alliance. Further, the summit focused on the alliance's continued transformation, taking stock of what has been accomplished since the 2002 Prague Summit. NATO also committed itself to extending further membership invitations in the upcoming 2008 Bucharest Summit. This summit was the first NATO summit held on the territory of the Baltic states.
The 2008 Bucharest Summit or the 21st NATO Summit was a NATO summit organized in the Palace of the Parliament, Bucharest, Romania on 2 – 4 April 2008.
Georgia and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) enjoy cordial relations. Georgia is not currently a member of NATO, but has been promised by NATO to be admitted in the future.
Relations between Ukraine and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) started in 1991 following Ukraine's independence after the dissolution of the Soviet Union. Ukraine-NATO ties gradually strengthened during the 1990s and 2000s, and Ukraine aimed to eventually join the alliance. Although co-operating with NATO, Ukraine remained a neutral country. After it was attacked by Russia in 2014, Ukraine has increasingly sought NATO membership.
Relations between the NATO military alliance and the Russian Federation were established in 1991 within the framework of the North Atlantic Cooperation Council. In 1994, Russia joined the Partnership for Peace program, and on 27 May 1997, the NATO–Russia Founding Act (NRFA) was signed at the 1997 Paris NATO Summit in France, enabling the creation of the NATO–Russia Permanent Joint Council (NRPJC). Through the early part of 2010s NATO and Russia signed several additional agreements on cooperation. The NRPJC was replaced in 2002 by the NATO-Russia Council (NRC), which was established in an effort to partner on security issues and joint projects together.
Canada and Latvia have long-standing foreign relations. During the 1920s, Canada helped Lithuania gain their independence with their victory in the war over the Baltics in Lithuania. Canada never recognized the Soviet Union's annexation of Latvia and re-recognized Latvia's independence on August 26, 1991.
Operation Reassurance (OpRe) is an initiative of the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) which dates from 2014, when NATO partners "agreed upon and began to enact a series of military measures on 16 April 2014", in response to the February 2014 annexation of Crimea by the Russian Federation. The initial financial commitment was agreed to at a meeting of the Harper Cabinet the next day. As of 25 March 2022 it funds the deployment of approximately 1,375 CAF members.
The 2021 Brussels summit of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) was the 30th formal meeting of the heads of state and heads of government of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, held in Brussels, Belgium, on 14 June 2021.
The Bucharest Nine or the Bucharest Format is an organization founded on 4 November 2015 in Bucharest, Romania, at the initiative of the President of Romania Klaus Iohannis and the President of Poland Andrzej Duda during a bilateral meeting between them. Its members are Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania and Slovakia. Its appearance was mainly a result of a perceived aggressive attitude from Russia following the annexation of Crimea from Ukraine and its posterior intervention in eastern Ukraine both in 2014. All members of the B9 were either part of the former Soviet Union (USSR) or members of the defunct Soviet-led Warsaw Pact.
Many states, international organizations, and civil society actors worldwide had expressed their reactions to the then-escalating crisis between Russia and Ukraine that started in March 2021. The crisis eventually culminated in a Russian invasion of Ukraine, beginning on 24 February 2022.
Armenia and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) have maintained a formal relationship since 1992, when Armenia joined the North Atlantic Cooperation Council. Armenia officially established bilateral relations with NATO in 1994 when it became a member of NATO's Partnership for Peace (PfP) programme. In 2002, Armenia became an Associate Member of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly.
The 2022 Brussels summit was a meeting of the heads of state and heads of government of NATO held in Brussels, Belgium, on 24 March 2022. The meeting took place in the wake of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
The 2022 Madrid summit was 31st summit of the heads of state and heads of government of the thirty members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), their partner countries, and the European Union, held in Madrid, Spain, on 29–30 June 2022. Spain previously hosted a NATO Summit in 1997.
In the context of the enlargement of NATO, Article 10 of the North Atlantic Treaty is the origin for the April 1999 statement of a "NATO open door policy". The open door policy requires a consensus in favour of countries applying to join NATO, as all member states must ratify the protocol enabling a new country to become a member of NATO. The open door policy "is aimed at promoting stability and cooperation".
The 2023 Vilnius summit was the 32nd formal meeting of the heads of state and heads of government of the thirty-one members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), their partner countries, and the European Union, held in Vilnius, Lithuania, on 11–12 July 2023. The summit was officially proposed during the previous 2022 Madrid summit and its dates were fixed on 9 November 2022. It was notable for the discussions about the ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine as well as Sweden and Ukraine's prospective memberships into the alliance.
The 2024 Washington summit was the 33rd summit of the heads of state and government of the thirty-two members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), their partner countries and the European Union (EU), which took place in Washington, D.C., United States, on 9–11 July 2024. The summit commemorates the landmark 75th anniversary of NATO, which was founded on 4 April 1949 with the signing of the North Atlantic Treaty in Washington, DC. The summit was also the fourth NATO summit to be held in the United States following the 1978 Washington summit, 1999 Washington summit and 2012 Chicago summit. It also marks the first summit since Sweden acceded to NATO and the last for Jens Stoltenberg as Secretary General.
Albania – Prime Minister Edi Rama 
Belgium – Prime Minister Alexander De Croo 
Bulgaria – President Rumen Radev 
Canada – Prime Minister Justin Trudeau 
Croatia – President Zoran Milanović 
Czech Republic – Prime Minister Petr Fiala 
Denmark – Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen 
Estonia – Prime Minister Kaja Kallas 
France – President Emmanuel Macron 
Germany – Chancellor Olaf Scholz 
Greece – Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis 
Hungary – Prime Minister Viktor Orbán 
Iceland – Prime Minister Katrín Jakobsdóttir 
Italy – Prime Minister Mario Draghi 
Latvia – President Egils Levits 
Lithuania – President Gitanas Nausėda 
Luxembourg – Prime Minister Xavier Bettel 
Montenegro – President Milo Đukanović 
Netherlands – Prime Minister Mark Rutte 
North Macedonia – Prime Minister Dimitar Kovačevski 
Norway – Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre 
Poland – President Andrzej Duda 
Portugal – Prime Minister António Costa 
Romania – President Klaus Iohannis 
Slovakia – President Zuzana Čaputová 
Slovenia – Prime Minister Janez Janša 
Spain – Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez 
Turkey – President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan 
United Kingdom – Prime Minister Boris Johnson 
United States – President Joe Biden 
NATO – Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg 
