Finland, Sweden and Ukraine are members of NATO’s Partnership for Peace program and are NATO Enhanced Opportunities Partners, as are Australia and Jordan. Israel, Jordan, Morocco and Tunisia are members of NATO’s Mediterranean Dialogue. Qatar is a member of the Istanbul Cooperation Initiative. Australia, Japan, New Zealand and South Korea were NATO Contact Countries before being inducted into Partners Across the Globe in 2012. Colombia is the latest nation to join the last-named program. Countries like Brazil and Senegal are being groomed for it, as evidently are Kenya and Liberia. (See below.)

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Breaking Defense
April 25, 2022

From Jordan to Japan: US invites 14 non-NATO nations to Ukraine defense summit

Over 40 nations were invited to attend, according to a list reviewed by Breaking Defense. For some, like Finland and Sweden, Ukraine’s fate is intertwined with their own, but for others from Africa, the US could be sending a signal all the way to Beijing.

The invite list for a high-level military meeting around Ukraine, hosted Tuesday in Germany by US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, includes 14 non-NATO nations ranging from Japan to Kenya to Israel, according to planning documents viewed by Breaking Defense.

All told, 43 countries, including all NATO members, were invited to the meeting at Ramstein Air Force Base, where the US will make a push for how allies and partners can come together to best support Ukraine’s ongoing defense against Russia.

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The non-NATO countries who were invited to Tuesday’s meeting come from around the globe:

Key Pacific partners: Japan, South Korea, Australia and New Zealand

Representatives from the Middle East: Israel, Qatar and Jordan

A quartet of African nations: Kenya, Liberia, Morocco and Tunisia

Three European nations whose future is in the balance: Sweden and Finland, which appear poised to move towards NATO membership within weeks, and, of course, Ukraine itself