Brussels, 18/11/2010 (Agence Europe) - Announced as “historic” by the NATO secretary general because it is due to approve NATO's reform objectives and give NATO a new Strategic Concept, the Atlantic Alliance summit should also trigger construction of a missile shield covering the whole territory of the 28 NATO member nations and hail a “new departure” in NATO-Russia relations. The summit, opening in Lisbon on Friday, will in some ways be framed by two EU-US meetings.
On Friday afternoon, an EU-US Energy Council will meet. On the EU side, there will be High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Catherine Ashton, Energy Commissioner Günther Oettinger and Flemish Energy Minister Freya van den Bossche. On the US side, there will be Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Ambassador Richard L. Morningstar and Deputy Secretary of State for Energy Daniel Poneman. The gathering should allow stock to be taken of cooperation between the two partners on issues affecting supply security (in particular the South/Transcaspian corridor, Ukraine, Nigeria), nuclear safety, energy storage, new materials and mutual access to research institutions as well as non-conventional gas, standards for electric vehicles and safety measures for drilling at sea.
On Saturday, after the NATO summit session devoted to Afghanistan, attended by all contributor countries and the presidents of the European Council and European Commission, and the NATO-Russia summit, Barack Obama, José Manuel Barroso and Herman Van Rompuy will take part at the first EU-United States summit organised since entry into force of the Lisbon Treaty. Hillary Clinton and Catherine Ashton will also attend this two-hour long meeting which, according to a European diplomatic source, is to ensure everyone has a better understanding of the political constraints imposed on the different players. This includes the impact that the mid-term election will have on US ratification of the START Treaty. The meeting is also underpinned by particularly intense multilateral activity - the G20 summit in Seoul, the NATO summit and the Cancun summit on climate.
The presidents of the EU and of the United States are expected to review a vast range of subjects including: - economic issues and the effort that must be made to make the Transatlantic Economic Council more operational (on the European side, it is hoped cooperation will be developed in certain innovative areas, especially in applications of the information society for health or mobility); - security issues, with emphasis being placed on the protection of information technology networks (a working group is due to be set up); - climate (above all discussion will turn to the possibilities of cooperation in green technology and exploring the ability of the United States and the EU to cooperate with a view to the COP 16); - development cooperation (both partners are expected to seek to better coordinate their development aid work, but the kinds of aid and the beneficiary countries concerned have still to be defined); - and international relations (Iran, Middle East and Sudan).
Together, the United States and the EU still make up 53% of global GDP and 31% of all world trade. The volume of trade in goods and services amounted to a value of €610.9 billion in 2009. (O.J./transl.jl)