The NATO Parliamentary Assembly is to discuss the Western alliance's deployments in Afghanistan and the Balkans along with its fraught relations with Russia during its five-day spring meeting in Berlin that began Friday, according to dpa. Some 350 parliamentarians from more than 40 countries kicked off proceedings in the German capital with committees meeting on a range of themes, with the future of the alliance and the deployment of a US anti-missile shield in Europe major points of discussion. While NATO has 26 members, parliamentary delegations from more than 20 non-member countries, including Russia, Ukraine, Georgia, Afghanistan, and Pakistan, are also attending. The parliamentarians split up into five committees - Political, Defence and Security, Science and Technology, Civil Dimension of Security, Economics and Security - on Friday. Among those attending proceedings that end with a plenary session on Tuesday are NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer and Supreme Allied Commander Europe US General Bantz John Craddock. German Defence Minister Franz Josef Jung and Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier are also to participate.
