Strategy rethink picked out as main issue for Czech delegation

Czech Prime Minister Petr Nečas, President Václav Klaus, Foreign Minister Karel Schwarzenberg and Defence Minister Alexandr Vondra are heading a Czech delegation at a two-day NATO summit that began in Lisbon on Friday. The Czech government has picked out the strategic rethink of the alliance as the major issue for discussion. Government members have insisted in the past they do not want to see any dilution of the principle of common defence as new tasks such as tackling terrorism, energy security and cyber crime are embraced. But alliance members are also expected to plot a withdrawal timetable from Afghanistan.

The meeting is also expected to push ahead with a NATO anti-missile defence shield to be established over the next 10 years. This would be a wider version of the now abandoned shield originally planned between the US, Czech Republic and Poland. The last stage of the meeting will be taken up by a summit between the alliance and Russia.