Report: NATO’s Future Seminar 2019

Young, Dynamic, Transatlantic: NATO’s Future Seminar 2019 in Berlin

Between November 9–12, YATA Germany welcomed 36 students and young professionals from over 20 NATO member and partner states for its annual NATO’s Future Seminar in Berlin.

Bringing to the table pre-written essays with recommendations, the participants discussed and refined said recommendations vis-à-vis their peers and top-level expert panels with respect to three topics:

How should NATO react to the changing environment of social media communication?
What should the cooperation between the EU and NATO look like in the future?
What should NATO’s relationship with North Africa and the Mediterranean be like?

After two days of hard work, the British Embassy hosted a networking dinner during which the young leaders could connect, before which Madeline Knox, First Secretary Foreign & Security Policy at the British Embassy in Berlin held a lively debate with the group.

The young leaders also had the formidable chance to partake in the German Atlantic Association’s NATO Talk Conference „NATO at 70 – No Time to Retire“ on November 11, 2019, where the seminar‘s results were presented and distributed among the more than 400 international guests from politics, military, academia, and the private sector. The group also got to meet the German Minister of Defence, Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer, after she held a meaningful speech about the need for a re-orientation of German foreign and security politics and the importance of NATO.

Still, after three days of plenty and valuable input, the young leaders with a heart for the transatlantic partnership completed their stay in Berlin with a heated debate on an event hosted by the German Atlantic Association and the Georgian Embassy on the case of Georgia’s accession to NATO.

The event was co-sponsored by YATA Germany’s mother organization, the German Atlantic Association, and NATO’s Public Diplomacy Division.

Each year, it is an excellent and encouraging experience for the YATA Germany board to see such great enthusiasm and engagement for NATO and its challenges in young academics and leaders from all over the alliance and its states. We are looking forward to welcoming fresh newcomers, to see familiar faces, and to further and cross each other’s paths!

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