NATO foreign ministers to meet this week

WASHINGTON: America and its NATO allies will hold a foreign ministers’ meeting this week in Brussels to discuss the war in Ukraine, Julianne Smith, the US permanent representative to the alliance, told a briefing attended by Arab News on Tuesday.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken will attend the meeting on Wednesday and Thursday, with the discussions focusing on providing more military and economic aid to Ukraine.

Smith said: “We will use this moment to bring ministers together to think about what more the alliance individually, collectively can be doing to support the people of Ukraine.”

The meeting will also work on the agenda of the Madrid Summit, which is scheduled to take place in late June.

The summit will draft NATO’s Strategic Concept, a key document updated every decade that reaffirms the alliance’s objectives and provides a collective assessment of the current security environment and future threats.

Four Asia-Pacific countries — Japan, Korea, Australia and New Zealand — were invited to attend this week’s meeting for the first time.

Sweden, Finland, Georgia and Ukraine, which are not NATO members, will also attend, Smith said.

“What that tells us is that NATO is increasingly joining forces with other democratic partners around the world,” she added.

“We’re looking for ways to bring some of these countries across the Pacific into our discussions first and foremost because they’ve provided very important support to Ukraine, but also because they have a lot to share when it comes to some of the future challenges.”

Smith did not rule out the possibility of Ukraine and other East European nations someday joining the alliance, saying: “The open-door policy here at NATO remains open.”

However, she said the alliance is not looking to expand into the Pacific in order to counter China’s rising influence and strength.