Vilnius, 11 July 2023 (MIA) - The key challenges facing the Alliance and further steps to strengthen defense capacities, but also Ukraine's prospects to join the organization will be the key topics of the NATO Summit in Lithuania's capital Vilnius on July 11-12.

Prime Minister Dimitar Kovachevski will head the North Macedonia delegation, also including Defense Minister Slavjanka Petrovska and Foreign Minister Bujar Osmani, MIA reports from Vilnius.

The summit brings together 48 foreign delegations, including 40 heads of state and government and over 150 high-ranking officials. Besides NATO member-states, the summit will also host the leaders of Australia, New Zealand, Japan, South Korea and the European Union.

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg and Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda will provide the summit's opening remarks.

Allies are expected to agree a package with three elements, to bring Ukraine closer to NATO. The package will include a multi-year programme of assistance to ensure interoperability; upgraded political ties – with President Zelenskyy attending the inaugural meeting of a new NATO-Ukraine Council; and a reaffirmation that Ukraine will become a member of NATO, with unity on how to bring Ukraine closer to its goal.

Allies will also take major steps to strengthen deterrence and defence, with the adoption of three new regional defence plans to counter the two main threats to NATO: Russia and terrorism. The plans will be supported by 300,000 troops on higher readiness, including substantial air and naval combat power.

Allies are also expected to endorse a Defence Production Action Plan to “aggregate demand, boost capacity, and increase interoperability” and a more ambitious defence investment pledge to invest a minimum of 2% of Gross Domestic Product annually on defence.

Ahead of the summit, Turkey agreed to submit Sweden's NATO membership bid for ratification to the Turkish parliament as soon as possible, after a meeting of Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson, thus overcoming the months-long deadlock.

PM Kovachevski will take part at the meetings of heads of state and government of members of the North-Atlantic Council. At the summit sidelines, Kovachevski is set to meet with Estonian and Greek counterparts, Kaja Kallas and Kyriakos Mitsotakis respectively. Ministers Osmani and Petrovska are also scheduled to hold informal meetings.

The NATO Public Forum is taking place in parallel with the Vilnius Summit and aims to promote a better public understanding of NATO’s policies and goals and the decisions to be adopted at the Vilnius Summit, through dialogue and engagement with a unique and diverse group of stakeholders, from heads of state and government and ministers, to international security experts, opinion formers, academics, journalists and young people, in a series of panel discussions, debates, and interactive sessions on various topics on NATO’s agenda.

The NATO Public Forum is jointly organized by the NATO Public Diplomacy Division with the Eastern Europe Studies Centre, the German Marshall Fund of the United States, the Munich Security Conference, and the Atlantic Council.

Photo: MIA archive/NATO