Addressing Greek reporters covering the NATO summit on Saturday, Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou emphasised the importance of the two-day meeting of NATO leaders in Lisbon, both for the Greek side and more generally.

Papandreou noted that NATO's new Strategic Concept was attempting to change the structure and orientation of the Alliance through the admission that the problems today were different from those of the Cold War era. For this reason, the Alliance was seeking to create a new basis for relations between its member-states but also its relations with other partners, such as Russia and international organisations.

The Greek premier said that the two-day summit had not led to any unpleasant surprises but had a positive outcome in terms of Greece's particular interests and sensitivities. Concerning Turkey's stance, he pointed out that Greece's neighbour had signed the final communique without presenting any objections.

Papandreou especially highlighted the start of cooperation between NATO and Russia, saying it was a very important step after the Cold War, noting that the anti-missile shield in which Russia is now also a participant signifies cooperation and not enmity.

Concerning Afghanistan, Papandreou noted that the discussion carried out aimed at stability and the withdrawal of foreign powers from Afghanistan.

Greece's Defence Minister Evangelos Venizelos, on his part, referred to the changes in NATO's command structure in order to make the Alliance more flexible and to avoid creating artificial or 'technical' problems, including in Greek-Turkish relations. He said that talks were due to begin on NATO entities, such as headquarters, bases etc.

Economic issues and the European financial support mechanism were also discussed by leaders attending the NATO summit, with particular significance for Greece. Sources said that German Chancellor Angela Merkel had not been swayed from her views concerning the financing of such a mechanism but was open to holding bilateral talks on Greece's proposals but also the views of other EU member-state leaders on this issue.

During a meeting with Papandreou on Friday, Merkel had agreed that the issue should be discussed between their aides, initially, while not ruling out a convergence between the positions of the two sides before the EU summit in December. The Greek proposal is also starting to gain some support among other countries.

Apart from Papandreou and Venizelos, the NATO summit was also attended by Foreign Minister Dimitris Droutsas and government spokesman George Petalotis.

Papandreou departed from Lisbon late on Saturday afternoon to return to Athens.