Slovakia is poised to host a security conference in Bratislava on October 21 and 22, branded an "informal meeting of Nato defence ministers", Dnevnik daily reported on October 22, 2009.

The purpose of the conference is to create a regional high-level forum for examining some of the most critical issues of today’s security environment.

The conference is entitled "new challenges – new capabilities", and it will attract military and defence experts from both sides of the Atlantic, with Afghanistan being a priority topic of discussion, the report said. Washington has requested that the military contingent in the country be boosted to 80 000 personnel from the current 68 000, of which 32 000 are US personnel, and 9 000 British troops. The British government has already vowed to send 500 additional soldiers to the war zone.

Canada has a 2700 strong contingent in the country but has indicated that it will discontinue its mission after 2011. Germany has 4245 troops, the Netherlands 2160 troops, Poland 2000, Italy, 2795, Bulgaria 460, Greece 125, Slovakia 240 and Portugal 105, to name but a few.

Previous concerns and issues raised were that most engagement is shouldered by American and British troops, whereas German, French and Italian troops, in particular, remain reluctant to commit themselves to front-line fighting.

Additionally, member states from the alliance will re-assess the contemporary status of Article V, of Nato's collective security clause, in the context of NATO’s new Strategic Concept, "the impact of the global economic downturn on international security, relations between the Alliance and Russia, and Nato`s operations and capability development", the official website of the North alliance has said.

The conference is staged jointly by the Slovak Atlantic commission and the Slovak ministries of foreign affairs and defence, and supported by Nato’s public diplomacy division.