NATO's 70th anniversary to be celebrated in Washington

BRUSSELS

NATO Ministers of Foreign Affairs will attend two-day meetings in Washington to celebrate the 70th anniversary of the alliance, the group announced Monday.

"Ministers of Foreign Affairs will attend events and hold meetings in Washington DC, United States of America, on Wednesday 3 and Thursday 4 April 2019," it said in a press release.

The meetings, which will be attended by 29 member countries, will be held under the chairmanship of the NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg where NATO-Russia relations, Afghanistan and counterterrorism will be discussed.

Stoltenberg will attend a session of the U.S. Congress and make a speech on behalf of the alliance on the first day of the meeting, he told a press conference.

He said Wednesday the Allies would meet at the Mellon Auditorium, where the North Atlantic Treaty was signed in 1949.

He said the meeting would be an opportunity to celebrate the "peace and prosperity of 70 years."

Stoltenberg said foreign ministers Thursday would address NATO-Russia relations since Russia continues to defy NATO’s calls to return to compliance with the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty.

He went on to say he expects allies will take measures to raise situational awareness in the Black Sea and increase support for Georgia and Ukraine.

Stoltenberg stressed that there is unity in NATO to fight the Daesh terror group and said the alliance is working to prevent the return of Daesh with its educational mission in Iraq.

*Writing by Gozde Bayar