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Chapter 3: The Opening Up of the Alliance The Alliance's Mediterranean Dialogue   An evolutionary process The Mediterranean Dialogue has its origins in the Brussels Summit Declaration of January 1994. NATO Heads of State and Government referred to positive developments in the Middle East Peace Process as "opening the way to consider measures to promote dialogue, understanding and confidence-building between the countries in the region" and encouraged "all efforts conducive to strengthening regional stability". At their meeting in December 1994 NATO Foreign Ministers declared their readiness "to establish contacts, on a case-by-case basis, between the Alliance and Mediterranean non-member countries with a view to contributing to the strengthening of regional stability". To this end, they directed the Council in Permanent Session "to continue to review the situation, to develop the details of the proposed dialogue and to initiate appropriate preliminary contacts". This resulted, in February 1995, in invitations to Egypt, Israel, Mauritania, Morocco and Tunisia to participate in a Dialogue with NATO. An invitation was extended to Jordan in November 1995, and to Algeria in February 2000. The 1997 Madrid Summit added a new and more dynamic direction to the Dialogue by establishing a Mediterranean Cooperation Group (MCG) in which all NATO member states are represented. This is the steering body for all questions related to the Dialogue and its further development. At the Washington Summit in April 1999, Alliance leaders decided to enhance both the political and practical dimensions of the Dialogue. This created further opportunities to strengthen cooperation in areas where NATO can bring added value, particularly in the military field, and in other areas where Dialogue countries have expressed interest. The Dialogue consists of a political dialogue combined with participation in specific activities. The political dialogue involves regular bilateral political discussions. Since October 2001, these have been conducted between the North Atlantic Council and the ambassador of each Mediterranean partner country, under the chairmanship of NATO's Secretary General. These meetings provide an opportunity to share views on the security situation in the Mediterranean region, as well as to discuss the current status and future development of the Dialogue itself. Multilateral meetings of the North Atlantic Council with the seven Mediterranean partners are also held to provide briefings on NATO’s activities and to exchange views on topical events. These meetings are usually held after each NATO Ministerial or Summit meeting or when exceptional circumstances arise. One such meeting took place, for example, on 23 October 2001, to inform Mediterranean partners about NATO’s response to the 11 September terrorist attacks against the United States, including the decision to invoke Article 5 of the Washington Treaty. The practical dimension of the Dialogue involves activities in areas such as civil emergency planning and science and information, as well as a military programme. This includes invitations to Dialogue countries to observe NATO/PfP military exercises, attend courses and seminars at NATO schools, and visit NATO military bodies. The military programme also includes port visits to Mediterranean Dialogue countries by NATO's Standing Naval Forces. The practical dimension of the Mediterranean Dialogue has expanded significantly since it was launched and now covers most activities in which other NATO Partner countries participate. In 2001, NATO offered the seven Mediterranean Dialogue countries the possibility of signing an agreement on the protection of information in order to facilitate the exchange of classified information required to participate in certain activities. Several countries have taken up this offer and others are expected to do so in the future.