Jointly conceived by NATO’s Political-Military Steering Committee on Partnership for Peace and the Geneva Centre for the Democratic Control of Armed Forces (DCAF), and co-funded by the Swiss Ministry of Defence, the ‘Future of NATO’ conference held in Montreux in February 2007 was initiated in order to discuss the future of defence cooperation, with a particular emphasis on democratic defence and security reforms, between the Alliance and its partners. The event followed on from the conclusions of the November 2006 Riga Summit of NATO Heads of State and Government, in which the importance of NATO’s policy of partnerships, dialogue and cooperation was underlined. The Allies voiced their aim to maximise the potential of NATO’s partnership frameworks, in both operational and reform assistance contexts, thus providing the central focus of the event. This publication contains an overview of the event, and the key interventions by Alliance partners, and the conclusions as to next steps. Reference to the other interventions can be found in the Conference Report by Deputy Secretary General Mr. John Colston. The editors thank the Swiss Ministry of Defence for the substantial financial support which made the conference and this publication possible.