Warsaw NATO summit 'largest' in history: Defence Minister
PR dla Zagranicy
Roberto Galea
20.06.2016 15:51
Defence minister Antoni Macierewicz has said that the NATO summit to be held in Warsaw in less than three weeks’ time will be the largest gathering of its kind in the history of the Alliance.
Defence minister Antoni Macierewicz. Photo: PAP/Leszek Szymański
Talking to reporters at the National Stadium, the central venue of the summit, he said that it will bring together 58 delegations from NATO’s 28 member states, 26 of the Alliance’s partnership countries, as well as those from NATO’s headquarters, the World Bank, the European Union and the United Nations.
‘It will be a summit that will take decisions resulting in a more secure world”, Macierewicz said, adding that Poland has achieved its key objectives, notably those relating to the protection of NATO’s eastern flank.
Poland’s defence minister stressed, however, that NATO’s unity and security have to be treated as a single entity.
“It is not only the question of the security of the southern and eastern flank,” Macierewicz said in response to a question about Poland’s contribution to NATO’s mission against ISIS fighters in the Middle East.
He said it will be solely of an information-sharing and training character. Four F-16 fighters with a crew of 150 will be stationed in Kuwait, and a unit of 60 special forces troops – in Iraq. He recalled that a Polish frigate will also be deployed in the Aegean Sea to support activities aimed at preventing an influx of immigrants to Europe.
A total of 2,500 delegates will attend the Warsaw NATO summit on 8-9 July. It will be covered by some 1,800 journalists and reporters. (mk/rg)