On 18 November, 70 young leaders from across Allied and Partner nations joined 120 Portuguese university students at the two-day Young Atlanticist Summit (YAS) entitled “NATO and its Neighborhood: Working with Others to Meet New Challenges”.

Bernardino Gomes, President of the Portuguese Atlantic Committee, gave the welcoming remarks, after which Portuguese Prime Minister José Sócrates was introduced. American participant Robert Nolan wrote a blog entry about the Prime Minister’s inaugural remarks.

Dr Stefanie Babst, NATO’s Acting Assistant Secretary General for Public Diplomacy, gave a speech and answered questions on “NATO and the Young Generation.” Then, Fran Burwell, Director of the Program on Transatlantic Relations at the Atlantic Council, and Troels Froling of the Atlantic Treaty Association moderated the discussion “What NATO Means to Me”. Participants from countries such as Russia, Brazil, South Africa and Norway were keen to express their views.

French participant Jérôme Guehenneux chaired a panel discussion on the future of NATO operations and missions with General Walter Gaskin, Deputy Chairman of the Military Committee; Karl-Heinz Kamp, Academic Director of the NATO Defense College; Irish/British participant Ryan Gawn and Israeli participant Eyal Raviv.

Manuela Franco, Researcher at the Instituto Português de Relações Internacionais (IPRI), New University of Lisbon, chaired the discussion “Looking South: New Dimensions of Atlantic Security”.

Participants could then choose to attend a panel on new threats, on building democracy and support for human rights, or on the future of the Balkans.

Throughout the youth summit, participants updated social networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter and blogs with photos and comments.

Day two of the youth event continues with discussions on the global economic crisis and Atlantic security, NATO and the future of Europe and the Comprehensive Approach, as well as a keynote speech by NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen.