2018 Brussels summit

The 2018 Brussels Summit of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) was the 28th formal meeting of the heads of state and heads of government of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, held in Brussels, Belgium, on 11 and 12 July 2018.^[1][2]

NATO Summit Brussels 2018 2018 Brussels Summit
Host country	Belgium
Date	11–12 July 2018
Venue(s)	NATO Headquarters in Brussels, Belgium
Cities	Brussels
Follows	2017 Brussels summit
Precedes	2019 London summit

Events

On 10 July 2018 the so-called 2018 Brussels Joint Declaration was signed,^[3][4][5] between Jean-Claude Juncker, Donald Tusk and Jens Stoltenberg.^[6]

On the opening day of the conference the President of the United States, Donald Trump, caused controversy by asserting that Germany is beholden to Russia over its involvement in the Nord Stream 1 gas pipeline project aimed at doubling energy imports from Russia.^[7] This was the first time he addressed the leaders since the inauguration ceremony of the new NATO Headquarters, at which he stressed a similar point. German Chancellor Angela Merkel reacted defensively to Trump's comments and tried to deflect them with: "I am very happy that today we are united in freedom, the Federal Republic of Germany. Because of that we can say that we can make our independent policies and make independent decisions."^[8]

Leaders and other dignitaries in attendance

Member states

Albania – Prime Minister Edi Rama  Belgium – King Philippe and Prime Minister Charles Michel  Bulgaria – President Rumen Radev  Canada – Prime Minister Justin Trudeau  Croatia – President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović  Czech Republic – President Miloš Zeman  Denmark – Prime Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen  Estonia – Prime Minister Jüri Ratas  France – President Emmanuel Macron  Germany – Chancellor Angela Merkel  Greece – Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras  Hungary – Prime Minister Viktor Orbán  Iceland – Prime Minister Katrín Jakobsdóttir  Italy – Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte  Latvia – President Raimonds Vējonis

Lithuania – President Dalia Grybauskaitė  Luxembourg – Prime Minister Xavier Bettel  Montenegro – Prime Minister Duško Marković  Netherlands – Prime Minister Mark Rutte  Norway – Prime Minister Erna Solberg  Poland – President Andrzej Duda  Portugal – Prime Minister António Costa  Romania – President Klaus Iohannis  Slovakia – President Andrej Kiska  Slovenia – Prime Minister Miro Cerar  Spain – Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez  Turkey – President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan  United Kingdom – Prime Minister Theresa May  United States – President Donald Trump  NATO – Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg

Non-member states and organisations

•  Armenia – Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan^[9]
•  Azerbaijan – President Ilham Aliyev^[10]
•  Finland – President Sauli Niinistö^[11]
•  Georgia – President Giorgi Margvelashvili^[12]
•  Republic of Macedonia – Prime Minister Zoran Zaev^[13]
•  Sweden – Prime Minister Stefan Löfven
•  Ukraine – President Petro Poroshenko^[14]
•  Afghanistan – President Ashraf Ghani^[15]

Security

For the first time a RF Drone Detection System was used (a white dome seen at the right rooftop of the summit picture).

Aftermath

The New York Times reported on 9 August 2018 that Trump's senior national security advisors, concerned that Trump might disrupt the summit as he did by refusing to sign the communiqué at the June G7 summit, scrambled to secure a formal policy agreement during the weeks before the summit.^[16]

See also

• 2018 Russia–United States summit