NATO Secretary General Rasmussen in Berlin (English version)

I’m afraid I won’t have the time to do a full fledged story in English on NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen attending a conference of the Green party in Berlin today. But for you non-German speakers, here’s an excerpt from his speech – and the full speech, in English, to listen to…

First, the execerpt, which I think remarkable – NATO as a global (!) consultation body for security issues…

I believe that NATO should become a forum for consultation on international security issues – the place where views, concerns and best practices on security are shared among global partners. And where we can work out how best to tackle common challenges together.

I realise that this idea might seem ambitious. But is it really?

Who would suffer if our partners in Europe, Central Asia, North Africa and the Middle East were to deepen their cooperation with NATO?

Who stands to lose if countries such as China, India and Pakistan were to engage in a closer dialogue with NATO? Who would be hurt if Asian-Pacific Countries like Australia, New Zealand, Japan and South Korea were to enhance their consultations with NATO?

Here you can listen to Rasmussen’s speech:

Plus some from the Q&A-Session – starting with Rasmussen’s answer to the question why the draft of NATO’s new strategic concept is classified: