Speech: by NATO Secretary General, Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, At Bilkent University, Ankara, Turkey, 19 December 2005

The theme of the speech was 'the transformation of NATO'. The transformation process has five broad dimensions. The first dimension has to do with the way how security challenges today are viewed, and how to use NATO to address them. The second relates to how we prepare ourselves militarily to promote peace and security. A third dimension is NATO’s evolving relationship with other major institutions, notably the European Union. A fourth dimension is the need to take a fresh look at our dialogue and cooperation with countries and regions that, not that long ago, were outide of NATO's normal sphere of influence. And fifthly, the need to reinforce NATO’s role as a political forum, where North America and Europe , including Turkey , come together to shape common policies.