NATO
More than (just) the North Atlantic

Members
▶ NATO was founded on April 4, 1949, by twelve countries from Europe and North America.
▶ Since then, 20 additional countries have joined NATO in various rounds of enlargement (1952, 19552, 1982, 1999, 2004, 2009, 2017, 2020 and 2023/24).

Partnerships (not exhaustive)
NATO maintains relations with more than 40 non-member countries and international organisations.
NATO works with these partners through a variety of different structures, primarily based on the geographical region.

Partnership for Peace (PfP, since 1994)
▶ The Partnership for Peace is a programme of practical bilateral cooperation between NATO and partner countries in the Euro-Atlantic area.

Mediterranean Dialogue (MD, since 1994)
▶ The Mediterranean Dialogue (MD) is a partnership forum that aims to contribute to security and stability in the wider Mediterranean region (seven partner countries in total).

Istanbul Cooperation Initiative (ICI, since 2004)
▶ The Istanbul Cooperation Initiative (ICI) is a partnership forum that offers non-NATO countries in the broader Middle East region the opportunity to cooperate with NATO. To date, four countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council have joined NATO’s Istanbul Cooperation Initiative.

Partners across the globe
▶ Outside of its formal partnership structures, NATO cooperates with a range of countries – called Partners across the globe – on an individual basis.

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