Location: The Heritage Foundation's Allison Auditorium

NATO’s 59th annual summit will take place from April 2-4 in Bucharest, Romania, amid tensions within the Alliance over Afghanistan and enlargement. NATO remains vital to America’s strategic interests and pivotal to addressing threats to global security. However, there are numerous challenges as the 27 members gather in Eastern Europe to determine a way forward for one of the most successful multilateral organizations of modern times.

It remains to be seen whether the Bucharest Summit will see the Alliance’s Continental partners commit enough troops to shore-up the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) mission in Afghanistan, and reduce the number of operational caveats which continue to hamper the mission. The Summit may also decide whether NATO adopts Albania, Croatia and Macedonia as full members of the Alliance, and Georgia and Ukraine as partners in the Membership Action Plan. In addition, France has indicated its interest in rejoining NATO’s integrated military command structures in the near future in exchange for U.S. support for an autonomous EU defense identity, a proposal that will spark significant debate in Washington and London.

Please join Dr. Liam Fox and Kurt Volker, who will deliver reflective, keynote remarks on the summit, make recommendations for NATO reform, and assess the future of the transatlantic alliance.