The Bucharest NATO Summit started on Wednesday evening, with a working dinner of the North Atlantic Council offered on that day by President Traian Băsescu at the Cotroceni Palace, for the heads of delegation coming to the reunion hosted in the capital, between the 2nd and the 4th of April.
Heads of State and Governments of the NATO member states were officially received by the Secretary General of the Alliance, Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, and also by President Traian Băsescu, between 18,00 and 19,00.
It is expected that the discussions would approach the NATO operations, the extension of the organization and the development of partnerships with third countries.
The North-Atlantic Council will be opened on Thursday morning, with a solemn ceremony dedicated to the militaries of the member states, but will also include an extra-ordinary meeting attended by the candidate countries aspiring to join NATO - Albania, Croatia and Macedonia.
The NATO reunion will continue with a working lunch of the Euro-Atlantic Partnership Council (EAPC), an organization that includes, besides the 26 NATO member states, other 23 partner states from Eastern Europe, Central Asia and the Western Balkans.
Later on, a special reunion dedicated to the NATO mission in Afghanistan will take place.
On Thursday, the Heads of State and Governments will participate, according to the schedule, to a concert held at the Romanian Ateneu (concert hall).
The Russian President, Vladimir Putin, is expected to arrive in Bucharest on Thursday, around 20,00 o’clock.
The last day of the Summit, Friday, is dedicated to the works of the NATO-Ukraine Commission, and to the reunion of the NATO-Russia Council.
(Source: Rompres)
