NATO PA meeting comes to a successful close

RIGA - The NATO Parliamentary Assembly has come to a successful finish in Riga, with speeches by NATO PA President John Tanner and NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen marking the final day of the event.

Tanner praised Latvia's organization of the 5-day meeting, saying that the military alliance would be able to draw on a number of positive recommendations that had come out of the event.

"NATO making progress on the new strategic concept," Tanner said.

He also noted that NATO needed to improve efficiency in order to remain an effective organization in times of economic turbulence.

"[NATO] needs to streamline the decision making process... make it leaner and more efficient," he said.

NATO's secretary general, for his part, discussed the importance of creating a missile shield that would protect the 900 million civilians that live in NATO member countries. He also discussed the conflict in Afghanistan and recent efforts to cut back on nuclear weapons.

The head of the Latvian delegation to the meeting, Parliamentary Foreign Affairs Committee head Vaira Paegle, said security was the country's "top concern".

"For Latvia, comprehensive security was, is and always will remain the main national priority,” she said.