Committee Chair, General Knud Bartels, said, "the purpose of the meeting was to discuss issues important to the military authorities of the members and to reach consensus on realistic measures. Issues of importance he said, include readiness to defend Turkey in keeping with a decision taken a year ago, given that Turkey shares a border with Syria. Along this line, NATO is closely monitoring events along that border.

Among other top issues is Afghanistan, where NATO is in the process of transferring operations to the Afghan national security forces. Bartels said that the transfer was going well and the national forces were now conducting complex operations throughout the country. NATO will, however, continue to train, advise and assist the Afghan forces and no final decision on withdrawal has yet been made," he said according to xinhuanet.com

Pictured, the act commemoration of the fallen, with a Minute of Silence, from left to right: Lieutenant General Mark  O.Schissler, Deputy Chairman of NATO's Military Committee; Air Marshal Sir Christopher Harper, Director General of NATO's International Military Staff; General Tibor Benko PhD, Hungarian Chief of Defence; Dr. Csaba Hende, Hungarian Minister of Defence; General Knud Bartels, Chairman of NATO's Military Committee; Brigadier General Max A.L.T. Nielsen, Military Assistant to the Chairman of NATO's Military Committee; Commodore Simon Hardern, IMS Executive Coordinator.

Click here to hear the conference's opening remarks by General Knud Bartels, Chairman of the Military Committee and Dr. Csaba Hende, Hungarian Minister of Defence at the NATO Military Committee Conference, Budapest.

More conference pictures: www.Nato.int