NATO to give more attention to southern flank, follows Portuguese proposal

NATO member states agreed to include a Portuguese-led proposal that calls for greater attention from the alliance to its southern flank, most notably Africa, as part of their summit conclusions at the summit in Lithuania, Portugal’s prime minister, António Costa, announced on Tuesday.

“This is a summit that begins with three pieces of good news, firstly the fact that the obstacles to … Sweden’s entry have been lifted,” Costa told journalists a few minutes before the NATO summit in Vilnius.

“Secondly, because the final communiqué accepted a proposal from Portugal to give significant attention to the entire southern flank,” Costa added.

The final bit of “good news” was the “unity of all in supporting Ukraine in its fight to defend international law,” he added.

The introduction of this proposal would allow the 31 countries that make up NATO to assess “the threats and opportunities for partnership” on the southern flank, in particular with the Middle East, the Sahel and North Africa – showing that “they do not ignore the need to develop other partnerships and establish other opportunities for cooperation.”

“This was something we were very concerned about,” he went on. “We insisted on it a lot, and it is now in the final communiqué.”

The aim, he added, is for NATO to reflect on the issue and present guidelines at next year’s summit in Washington.

For several years, Portugal and the other 30 NATO member states have insisted on the need for the alliance to look to its southern flank, namely Africa, at a time when attention is focused on the eastern flank because of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Regarding support for Ukraine, there was still doubt on Tuesday about what language member states would use to insist on unequivocal support for the government in Kyiv and Ukraine’s possible accession to NATO, without committing to a timetable.

Costa also said that the allies had already agreed on the language to be used in the communiqué and that “the final version will be distributed very soon.”

Prior to his statements to journalists, Costa met bilaterally with South Korean President Yon Suk-yeol, but was joined by Portuguese Foreign Minister João Gomes Cravinho, and Defence Minister Helena Carreiras.

(André Campos Ferrão e Ana Raquel Lopes, Lusa.pt)