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Page Updated:
25-Sep-2006
SPS Homepage > News 2004
Madrid
workshop on threats to security
in the Mediterranean basin
A NATO Advanced Research Workshop titled “Developing Collaboration
to Assess and Respond to Threats to Security in and around the Mediterranean
Basin” took place in Madrid from 19-21 March, and brought together
participants from 21 NATO, partner and Mediterranean Dialogue countries.
Although in the planning for a number of weeks, the workshop took on
an added urgency in the wake of the devastating bomb attacks in Madrid
the previous week. Held at the Spanish Centre for Defence Studies, the objectives of the
workshop were:
- to discuss new security challenges as perceived by Mediterranean
countries in an atmosphere of sensitivity, understanding and mutual
respect; .
-
to identify common ground – security threats which threaten all;
- to identify key areas of disagreement which need to be tackled in detail
and prioritise them in order of urgency and importance;
- to identify possible areas of concrete interrelationship and cooperation
and develop an informal network of experts in the region;
- to develop proposals for setting up a more effective regular
dialogue also with policy makers in NATO nations
and Mediterranean Dialogue
countries.
In order to achieve these objectives, the Workshop addressed the following
issues:
- New and emerging threats to collective security in the
Mediterranean
- National, multilateral and non-governmental responses
and their impact in Europe, the Balkans, North Africa and
the
Middle East
- Tools and mechanisms for: conflict warning and prevention,
crisis management, conflict resolution, reconciliation, recovery
and reconstruction.
- Evaluating the role of force in response to threats to
security and search for ways to improve the existing mechanisms
for collaboration and for
policy orientation
The participants were most conscious of the timeliness of this event,
and its location in Madrid, a city which is still recovering from the
cruel and large-scale terrorist attack which took the lives of over 200
people a week earlier. It reinforced their conviction that the Mediterranean
Region is now, more than ever, a crucial place to build cross-cultural
bridges.
The meeting was an event supported under the NATO Programme for Security
Through Science.
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