This roundtable workshop in Paris from March 5th-6th was a part of the series of workshops held throughout Europe with the purpose of engaging with officials and experts in discussion on NATO\’s nuclear posture.
The roundtable in Paris provided a forum for discussions among officials and experts from NATO nuclear weapon states as well as host nations to identify common ground and disagreements on NATO’s future deterrence and defense posture, in order to foster progress towards a meaningful DDPR report to be adopted at NATO’s May 2012 summit in Chicago. The seminar focused on the contribution of nuclear weapons to the Alliance’s deterrence posture and Alliance cohesion. The workshop included discussions on whether and how reliance on nuclear weapons can be reduced, in line with President Obama’s commitment to reduce the role of nuclear weapons in security policy and NATO’s commitment to work towards creating the conditions for a world free of nuclear weapons.
This workshop was jointly organized by the British American Security Information Council (BASIC), the Arms Control Association (ACA), the Institute for Peace Research and Security Policy Hamburg (IFSH) and the Institut de Relations Internationales et Stratégiques (IRIS), with support of the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation.