NATO summit

April 3-4, 2009

Following closely after the G20 summit welcoming the new President of the United States to London, the NATO summit marked the return of France after 43 years of absence to the political and military command shunned by General De Gaulle in 1966. Created in the post-war period (1949) in Washington, this organization to counteract the forces of the East welcomed for its 60th anniversary two former communist satellites, Albania and Croatia. Now with 28 member countries, the Atlantic Alliance in Strasbourg, Kehl and Baden Baden set its tasks for the future: strengthening military forces in Afghanistan, the fight against the Taliban and the appointing of the future secretary general. This summit, which mobilized all the security forces, also witnessed the first meeting of Michelle Obama and Carla Bruni-Sarkozy. We will all remember the Gibson guitar presented by the American First Lady to her French counterpart, a lunch at the Palais Rohan and a meeting of First Ladies in Baden-Baden immortalized by a “class photo” for the 60th anniversary of the North Atlantic Treaty.