Editing NATO (section)

==Partnerships with third countries==
{{Main|Foreign relations of NATO}}
[[File:Cooperative Archer 2007.jpg|thumb|upright=1.0|right|Partnership for Peace conducts multinational military exercises such as Cooperative Archer, which took place in Tbilisi in July 2007 with 500 servicemen from four NATO members, eight PfP members, and Jordan, a Mediterranean Dialogue participant.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://en.ria.ru/world/20070709/68610511.html|title=Cooperative Archer military exercise begins in Georgia|date=9 July 2007|agency=RIA Novosti|access-date=3 December 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140107122519/http://en.ria.ru/world/20070709/68610511.html|archive-date=7 January 2014|url-status=dead}}</ref>|alt=Hundreds of soldiers in military uniforms stand behind a line on a tarmac with 14 flags held by individuals at the front.]]

The [[Partnership for Peace]] (PfP) programme was established in 1994 and is based on individual bilateral relations between each partner country and NATO: each country may choose the extent of its participation.<ref name=pfp>{{cite web |url=http://www.nato.int/issues/pfp/index.html |title=Partnership for Peace |publisher=NATO |access-date=3 March 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110301054735/http://www.nato.int/issues/pfp/index.html |archive-date=1 March 2011 |url-status=live }}</ref> Members include all current and former members of the [[Commonwealth of Independent States]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://ru.forsecurity.org/nato-and-belarus-partnership-past-tensions-and-future-possibilities |title=Nato and Belarus – partnership, past tensions and future possibilities |publisher=[[Foreign Policy and Security Research Center]] |access-date=25 November 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131020091957/http://ru.forsecurity.org/nato-and-belarus-partnership-past-tensions-and-future-possibilities |archive-date=20 October 2013 }}</ref> The [[Euro-Atlantic Partnership Council]] (EAPC) was first established on 29 May 1997, and is a forum for regular coordination, consultation and dialogue between all fifty participants.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.nato.int/cps/en/natolive/topics_49276.htm |title=NATO Topics: The Euro-Atlantic Partnership Council |publisher=NATO |access-date=22 August 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101024110254/http://www.nato.int/cps/en/natolive/topics_49276.htm |archive-date=24 October 2010 |url-status=live }}</ref> The PfP programme is considered the operational wing of the Euro-Atlantic Partnership.<ref name=pfp/> Other third countries have also been contacted for participation in some activities of the PfP framework, such as Afghanistan.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.nato.int/docu/basictxt/b060906e.htm |title=Declaration by the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan |publisher=NATO |access-date=22 August 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100908042229/http://www.nato.int/docu/basictxt/b060906e.htm <!--Added by H3llBot--> |archive-date=8 September 2010}}</ref>

The European Union (EU) signed a comprehensive package of arrangements with NATO under the [[Berlin Plus agreement]] on 16 December 2002. With this agreement, the EU was given the possibility of using NATO assets if it wanted to act independently in an international crisis, on the condition that NATO itself did not want to act – the so-called "[[right of first refusal]]".<ref>{{cite web|first=Bram|last=Boxhoorn|date=21 September 2005|publisher=ATA Education |url=http://www.ataedu.org/article_new.php?id=107 |title=Broad Support for NATO in the Netherlands |access-date=7 July 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070218090444/http://www.ataedu.org/article_new.php?id=107 |archive-date=18 February 2007}}</ref> For example, Article 42(7) of the 1982 [[Treaty of Lisbon]] specifies that "If a Member State is the victim of armed aggression on its territory, the other Member States shall have towards it an obligation of aid and assistance by all the means in their power". The treaty applies globally to specified territories, whereas NATO is restricted under its Article 6 to operations north of the [[Tropic of Cancer]]. It provides a "double framework" for the EU countries that are also linked with the PfP programme.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Howorth|first=Jolyon|title=Strategic Autonomy and EU-NATO Cooperation: A Win-Win Approach|url=https://www.cairn.info/revue-l-europe-en-formation-2019-2-page-85.htm?ref=doi|journal=L'Europe en Formation|date=2019 |volume=389 |issue=2 |pages=85–103 |doi=10.3917/eufor.389.0085 |access-date=14 April 2023|archive-date=28 February 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220228130506/https://www.cairn.info/revue-l-europe-en-formation-2019-2-page-85.htm?ref=doi|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|date=7 June 2016|title=Official Journal of the European Union|url=https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=celex%3A12016M042|website=EUR-Lex|access-date=14 April 2023|archive-date=21 March 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230321174341/https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=celex%3A12016M042|url-status=live}}</ref>

Additionally, NATO cooperates and discusses its activities with numerous other non-NATO members. The [[Mediterranean Dialogue]] was established in 1994 to coordinate in a similar way with [[Foreign relations of Israel|Israel]] and countries in North Africa. The [[Istanbul Cooperation Initiative]] was announced in 2004 as a dialogue forum for the Middle East along the same lines as the Mediterranean Dialogue. The four participants are also linked through the [[Gulf Cooperation Council]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.nato.int/cps/en/SID-4CA2943D-E00ED2BF/natolive/51288.htm |title=NATO Partner countries |publisher=NATO |date=6 March 2009 |access-date=15 June 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110805170235/http://www.nato.int/cps/en/SID-4CA2943D-E00ED2BF/natolive/51288.htm |archive-date=5 August 2011 |url-status=live }}</ref> In June 2018, Qatar expressed a wish to join NATO,<ref>{{cite news |url=https://thepeninsulaqatar.com/article/05/06/2018/Qatar-eyes-full-NATO-membership-Defense-minister|title=Qatar eyes full NATO membership: Defense minister|date=5 June 2018|publisher=The Peninsula|access-date=11 September 2019|archive-date=2 October 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191002235442/https://thepeninsulaqatar.com/article/05/06/2018/Qatar-eyes-full-NATO-membership-Defense-minister |url-status=live}}</ref> who ruled it out, saying that only additional European countries could join according to [[North Atlantic Treaty#Article 10|Article 10 of NATO's founding treaty]].<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.dhakatribune.com/world/2018/06/06/qatar-says-it-wants-to-join-nato |title=Nato rejects Qatar membership ambition|publisher=Dhaka Tribune|date=6 June 2018|access-date=11 September 2019|archive-date=2 December 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191202221638/https://www.dhakatribune.com/world/2018/06/06/qatar-says-it-wants-to-join-nato |url-status=live}}</ref> Qatar and NATO had earlier signed a joint security agreement, in January 2018.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.nato.int/cps/en/natohq/news_150794.htm|title=Qatar signs security agreement with NATO|publisher=NATO|date=16 January 2018|access-date=11 September 2019|archive-date=1 October 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191001140343/https://www.nato.int/cps/en/natohq/news_150794.htm|url-status=live}}</ref>

Political dialogue with Japan began in 1990, and since then, the Alliance has gradually increased its contact with countries that do not form part of any of these cooperation initiatives.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.nato.int/summit2009/topics_en/12-contact_countries.html|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20130910234056/http://www.nato.int/summit2009/topics_en/12-contact_countries.html|url-status=dead|title=NATO Topics:NATO's relations with Contact Countries|archivedate=10 September 2013|website=NATO }}</ref> In 1998, NATO established a set of general guidelines that do not allow for a formal institutionalization of relations, but reflect the Allies' desire to increase cooperation. Following extensive debate, the term "Contact Countries" was agreed by the Allies in 2000. By 2012, the Alliance had broadened this group, which meets to discuss issues such as counter-piracy and technology exchange, under the names "[[NATO global partners|global partners]]" or "partners across the globe".<ref name=gao>{{cite news |url=http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d101015.pdf |title=NATO PARTNERSHIPS: DOD Needs to Assess U.S. Assistance in Response to Changes to the Partnership for Peace Program |publisher=[[United States Government Accountability Office]] |date=September 2010 |access-date=27 August 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130618101741/http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d101015.pdf |archive-date=18 June 2013 |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url= http://www.nato.int/cps/en/natolive/51288.htm |title= Partners |publisher= NATO |date= 2 April 2012 |access-date= 12 October 2012 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20121007061711/http://www.nato.int/cps/en/natolive/51288.htm |archive-date= 7 October 2012 |url-status=live }}</ref> Australia and New Zealand, both contact countries, are also members of the [[AUSCANNZUKUS]] strategic alliance, and similar regional or bilateral agreements between contact countries and NATO members also aid cooperation. NATO Secretary General [[Jens Stoltenberg]] stated that NATO needs to "address the [[Chinese Century|rise of China]]", by closely cooperating with Australia, New Zealand, Japan and South Korea.<ref>{{cite news |title=NATO needs to address China's rise, says Stoltenberg |url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-australia-nato/nato-needs-to-address-chinas-rise-says-stoltenberg-idUSKCN1UX0YX |work=Reuters |date=7 August 2019 |access-date=11 September 2019 |archive-date=14 August 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190814225018/https://www.reuters.com/article/us-australia-nato/nato-needs-to-address-chinas-rise-says-stoltenberg-idUSKCN1UX0YX |url-status=live }}</ref> Colombia is NATO's latest partner and has access to the full range of cooperative activities offered; it is the first and only [[Latin American]] country to cooperate with NATO.<ref>{{cite web |url= http://nato.int/cps/en/natohq/topics_143936.htm?selectedLocale=en |title= Relations with Colombia |publisher= nato.int |date= 19 May 2017 |access-date= 20 May 2017 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20170521075718/http://nato.int/cps/en/natohq/topics_143936.htm?selectedLocale=en |archive-date= 21 May 2017 |url-status= dead }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|date=26 May 2018|title=Colombia to be NATO's first Latin American global partner|url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-colombia-nato-idUSKCN1IR0E8|website=Reuters|access-date=14 April 2023|archive-date=18 August 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220818152139/https://www.reuters.com/article/us-colombia-nato-idUSKCN1IR0E8|url-status=live}}</ref>