President Obama Meets with NATO Secretary General

Anders Fogh Rasmussen

Readout of the President's Meeting

The President welcomed NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen to the Oval Office earlier today. The President thanked the Secretary General for his strong and effective leadership during NATO’s seven month operation in Libya, Operation Unified Protector.

The President and the Secretary General agreed that by acting quickly and decisively NATO saved the lives of thousands of Libyan civilians.

The President and the Secretary General also discussed goals for the May 20-21 NATO Summit, which the President will host in Chicago, including taking further steps to ensure that NATO has the defense capabilities it needs to meet 21st century security threats.

Obama and Rasmussen agreed that the Chicago Summit should seek to further broaden and deepen NATO’s relationships with non-NATO partner nations.

Additionally, the President and the Secretary General discussed the important progress made by the NATO-led ISAF mission in Afghanistan, and how the Chicago Summit might shape the next major phase of transition in Afghanistan, consistent with the Lisbon Summit goals and the President’s June 22 speech on Afghanistan.

Photo source: Flickr

Author: World Economic Forum

Permission: Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic

Obama Meets with NATO Secretary General

Flag of NATO

Readout of the President's Meeting with the NATO Secretary General

The President welcomed NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen to the White House today. He thanked the Secretary General for his leadership and expressed appreciation to all NATO allies for their many contributions to peace and security in Europe and around the world.

The President and the Secretary General discussed Libya, where NATO and five partner nations are implementing the mandate of UN Security Council Resolution 1973 and are enforcing the no-fly zone, implementing the arms embargo, and protecting civilians from the violence inflicted on them by the Qadhafi regime.

They agreed the operation had saved countless lives and that as long as the Qadhafi regime continues to attack its own population, NATO will maintain its operations to protect civilians.

The President and the Secretary General also discussed the ongoing NATO mission in Afghanistan, where over 40,000 troops from Allied and partner nations join U.S. forces in International Security Assistance Force.

They agreed on the importance of a sustained NATO commitment to Afghanistan as the process of transition to Afghan lead for security begins this year.

The President looks forward to hosting the next NATO Summit in the United States in 2012.

Photo source: Wikipedia

Author: NATO

Permission: Public Domain