The Minister of National Defence Dimitris Avramopoulos departs for Brussels tomorrow to participate in the two-day Meeting of NATO Defence Ministers.
The defence ministers will discuss at the meeting about the mid-term report on Alliance’s defence capabilities. The report will be presented by the NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen and is expected to be definitely adopted at the NATO Summit in Wales next September.
In the context of this meeting, the participants will also discuss, among others, about manners of improving interoperability, cooperation and dialogue with the partners of the alliance and further promoting the CFI initiative; about the developments in the alliance’s reorganisation, cyber-defence and NATO maritime strategy. On the last topic, Mr. Avramopoulos will refer to relevant discussions about EU maritime strategy which were held last week in Athens in the informal meeting of Defence Ministers in the context of the Greek Presidency.
Afghanistan, as well as current developments in Ukraine, is expected to be referred to on the working dinner. Developments in Ukraine will be also discussed separately on the second day of the meeting.
Then, Mr. Avramopoulos will depart from Brussels for Boston to participate as a keynote speaker in a Conference about the future of Europe organised by Harvard and Fletcher Universities.
Other speakers of the conference will also be, among others, the President of the European Council Herman Van Rompuy, the vice president of the European Commission and commissioner for competition Joaquin Almunia and Croatia’s Alternate Prime Minister and Foreign Vesna Pusic.
Right after his speech in Boston, the Minister of National Defence will return to Brussels, where he will be a keynote speaker at a Conference about European Defence Industry organised by the European Commission.
The President of the European Commission José Manuel Barroso, the vice president of the European Commission and Commissioner for Industry and Entrepreneurship Antonio Tajani, the Commissioner for Internal Market and Services Michel Barnier and the Defence Minister of France Jean Yves Le Drian, among others, will also address the Conference.
The topic of the European Defence Industry will be also the subject of the South-Eastern Europe Defence Ministerial to be held in Athens next April, as the Minister of National Defence Dimitris Avramopoulos announced today after the meeting with his Serbian counterpart Nebojsa Rodic.