"Tomorrow the defense minister and I will travel to Wales to attend the NATO summit and I can confirm that Australia will be accepting a formal invitation to become what is called an enhanced partner," Bishop said.
Bishop said that Australia would now be accepting a formal invitation to partner with NATO.
For the record, Australia’s relationship with Nato strengthened substantially over the past decade due to participation in Nato’s longest mission, the Isaf (International Security Assistance Force) mission in Afghanistan.
“Australia has proven itself time and again to be a reliable and capable partner,” she said.
Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott is scheduled to host Russian President Vladimir Putin and other world leaders at a G20 summit in November, to discuss and focus on Afghanistan and involvement there beyond the end of this year when the Isaf mission expires.
The NATO summit is expected to be attended by US President Barack Obama, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, and French President Francois Hollande along with other world leaders and senior ministers.
