NATO, together with the German Federal Foreign Office, organised the sixth Transatlantic Policy Planners' Conference in Berlin, Germany on Thursday and Friday (9-10 November 2023). This flagship event brought together directors of policy planning from across the Alliance, as well as from selected partner countries and the European External Action Service.
The Berlin meeting focused on how to futureproof NATO against a background of growing strategic competition and instability. Policy planners also interacted with members of the independent group of experts appointed by the Secretary General to assist the Alliance's reflection on how to strengthen its approach to the southern neighbourhood. Finally, allied policy planners had the opportunity to exchange views with their counterparts from NATO's Indo-Pacific partners Australia, Japan, New Zealand and South Korea.
The annual Transatlantic Policy Planners' Conference, which was launched in 2019, allows experts from Allied foreign ministries working on long-term and emerging security issues to exchange information and ideas as well as consider the implications for the Alliance in an informal setting. The conference was co-hosted by the Policy Planning Unit in the Office of the NATO Secretary General and the Policy Planning Staff of the German Federal Foreign Office.
