The North Atlantic Council hosted representatives of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly (NPA) on Monday to discuss this year's priority issues for the Western military alliance, according to a statement posted on the NATO website.
"Parliamentarians have a critical role in forging the cooperation and solidarity that is so necessary for us," NATO Deputy Secretary-General Alexander Vershbow, who chaired the meeting, was quoted as saying in the news release.
Ambassador Vershbow also thanked parliamentarians for their political support in developing a strong relationship between the Alliance and National Parliaments of individual member-nations.
The North Atlantic Council and the NATO Parliamentary Assembly meet annually to discuss points of interest. This year's meeting touched upon the Alliance's priority issues for 2013 which include Afghanistan, partnerships and defense capabilities.
Vershbow also used the meeting to update the parliamentarians on last week's defense ministerial where the Ministers took concrete steps to improve Allied capabilities and interoperability and assessed progress in Afghanistan.
The NATO Parliamentary Assembly is an inter-parliamentary organization, which brings together legislators from NATO member-countries to consider security-related issues of common interest and concern.
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