News

Prague is gradually returning to normal after the two day NATO summit on Thursday and Friday. Traffic is again flowing normally through the city, where many streets were cordoned off, and shops, which were boarded up in anticipation of violent anti-NATO demonstrations are gradually reopening. In the end the summit passed without serious incident, and police officers, brought in from around the country are now returning home.

The NATO summit witnessed the historic decision to invite a further seven countries to join the alliance, and for the first time the expansion is to include countries which were once part of the Soviet Union. NATO leaders also decided to create a rapid response force to be used in global anti-terrorist missions, and issued a statement backing UN efforts to disarm Iraq. The statement was cautiously worded and fell short of overtly endorsing military intervention. At talks on Friday NATO and Russia said they would continue in the path of cooperation set up in Rome six months ago.

The NATO summit came to an end in Prague on Friday after two days of talks on the enlargement, transformation and modernisation of the alliance. Leaders of the 53-year-old defence organisation made the historic decision to invite a further seven former Eastern Bloc nations to join, and for the first time the expansion is to include countries which were once part of the Soviet Union. NATO leaders also decided to create a rapid Response Force to be used in global anti-terrorist missions, and issued a statement backing UN efforts to disarm Iraq. However the statement did not go so far as to endorse military intervention overtly. On Friday, representatives of the 19 NATO member states met their counterparts from 27 East European and Central Asian nations that have partnership accords with the alliance.

Meanwhile, with the NATO summit being over, Prague is gradually getting back to normal. Those who left the city or stayed home for fear of getting caught in demonstrations are returning to their normal lives. Despite further protest demonstrations scheduled to be held in several parts of the city, Prague streets remained quiet on Saturday. Police who were called in during the summit from the rest of the country are being sent back home.

The Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov welcomed NATO's planned strategic anti-terror reorientation, saying this made the Alliance's eastward expansion compatible with Moscow's security interests. "We consider that this transformation of NATO should be welcomed," Mr Ivanov said following a meeting with the 19 alliance foreign ministers. Mr Ivanov was reacting to NATO's historic decision on Thursday to invite seven former communist states to join the organisation and to set up a 20,000 member anti-terror rapid Response Force for worldwide operations. Three of the states joining NATO - Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania - were part of the former Soviet Union. The other four future members are Bulgaria, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia.