The President of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly defines Portugal as a “crucial partner”
The North American Gerald Connolly was speaking at the press conference that Assembly marked the opening of the work of this session – which runs until the 11th – which was also attended by the secretary general of the Parliamentarian of NATO, a Frenchwoman Ruxandra Popa, and of the Social Democratic Deputy Adão Silva, president of the Portuguese delegation in that assembly.
Conolly thanked the Portuguese hospitality and welcomed the high rate of vaccinated population, which facilitates the organization of the event, considering that “Portugal is a good model for the United States in this field”.
Recalling that the country is one of the founding members of the Atlantic Alliance, the president also said that the country is “a crucial partner”.
Gerald Connolly also referred that NATO is reviewing its strategic concept, recalling that the latter mentions Russia as a partner, “which it is not at all”, and does not even mention China.
“We are a collective security alliance, committed to our collective security, but at the same time we are an alliance that gathers around common democratic values, because if we are not equal in our commitments then we are just another military alliance that apparently does not like of certain people or countries,” he stressed.
Ruxandra Popa shared the president’s happiness in being able to organize this session in person after the covid-19 pandemic occurred, with 15 draft reports and several resolutions being discussed in the committees.
“The Assembly is institutionally separate from NATO, it is a ‘separate body`, but these resolutions will be felt by the Secretary General of NATO and by the governments of member countries,” he explained.
From today to October 11, the Portuguese parliament will host the 67th session of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly, which will be attended by the secretary general of the Alliance and will address the situation in Afghanistan and the covid-19 pandemic.
An annual session, organized this year in Lisbon, will be attended by members of the Portuguese Government, official NATO representatives, experts in defense matters, legislators from the 30 NATO member states and representatives of Alliance partner countries from parliamentary bodies .
According to the official programme, among the themes on the table eliminated a 2030 NATO agenda and a review of the strategic concept, “the lessons learned from NATO’s involvement in Afghanistan”, in Russia and China, the evolution of the situation in the Middle East and North Africa, climate change and even “democratic resilience and misinformation” or the covid-19 pandemic, among others.
The plenary meeting on Monday (11), will feature processes from the President of the Republic, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, the President of the Assembly of the Republic, Eduardo Ferro Rodrigues, the prime minister, António Costa, the President of the House of Representatives of United States of America, Nancy Pelosi, United Nations Under-Secretary-General, Jean-Pierre Renaud Lacroix (representing Secretary-General, António Guterres), and NATO Secretary-General, Jens Stoltenberg, among others.