NATO summit explained

A NATO summit is a summit meeting that is regarded as a periodic opportunity for heads of state and heads of government of NATO member countries to evaluate and provide strategic direction for Alliance activities.[1]

NATO summits are not regular meetings like the more frequent NATO ministerial meetings, but rather are important junctures in the alliance's decision-making process on the highest level. Summits are often used to introduce new policy, invite new members into the alliance, launch major new initiatives, and build partnerships with non-NATO countries.

Participating countries

The following lists current NATO member states:

The following lists non-NATO states and organisations currently participating:

List of NATO summits

From the founding of NATO in 1949, there have been a total of thirty-three NATO summits. Only the traditional summits have received an official number, thereby excluding the exceptional summits of 2001 and 2022 in NATO headquarters in Brussels.[2]

The last NATO summit took place in Washington, D.C., United States from 9 to 11 July 2024.

NATO Summits
Year Dates Country City Host leader
195716–19 December President René Coty
197426 June Prime Minister Leo Tindemans
197529–30 May Prime Minister Leo Tindemans
197710–11 May Prime Minister James Callaghan
197830–31 May President Jimmy Carter
198210 June Chancellor Helmut Schmidt
198521 November Prime Minister Wilfried Martens
19882–3 March Prime Minister Wilfried Martens
1989[3] 29–30 May Prime Minister Wilfried Martens
1989 4 December Prime Minister Wilfried Martens
19905–6 July
19917–8 November Prime Minister Giulio Andreotti
199410–11 January Prime Minister Jean-Luc Dehaene
199727 May FrancePresident Jacques Chirac
19978–9 July Prime Minister José María Aznar
199923–25 April President Bill Clinton
2001 13 June Secretary General George Robertson
200228 May Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi
200221–22 November Prime Minister Vladimír Špidla
200428–29 June TurkeyPrime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan
200522 February Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt
200628–29 November Prime Minister Aigars Kalvītis
20082–4 April President Traian Băsescu
20093–4 April President Nicolas Sarkozy
Chancellor Angela Merkel
201019–20 November PortugalPrime Minister José Sócrates
201220–21 May President Barack Obama
20144–5 September Prime Minister David Cameron
20168–9 July PolandPresident Andrzej Duda
201725 May Prime Minister Charles Michel
201811–12 July Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg
20193–4 December Prime Minister Boris Johnson
2021 14 June Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg
2022 25 February Virtual summit Virtual summit Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg
202224 March Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg
2022 29–30 June Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez
2023 11–12 July President Gitanas Nausėda
2024 9–11 July President Joe Biden
2025 24–26 June
2026 TBD TBD

See also

Notes and References

  1. Web site: NATO Summit Meetings . NATO.int . NATO . 27 September 2013 . https://web.archive.org/web/20061004140412/http://www.nato.int/issues/summits/index.html . 4 October 2006.
  2. Web site: NATO Summit Meetings . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20090403072908/http://www.nato.int/cps/en/natolive/topics_50115.htm . 3 April 2009 . NATO.int . NATO . 4 October 2011 . 29 November 2011.
  3. Web site: NATO . NATO summits . 2024-08-15 . NATO . en.