“Sixty years ago, the Foreign Ministers of Canada, Italy and Norway – Lester B. Pearson, Gaetano Martino, and Halvard Lange – were appointed by the North Atlantic Council to review the objectives and needs of an Alliance that was entering its seventh year. The resulting report that these three – popularly known as the “Three Wise Men” – were tasked to write not only offered recommendation for strengthening the internal solidarity, cohesion and unity of the Alliance but also articulated the important realization that the two aspects of security – civil and military – were no longer to be considered separately.
The Report on Non-Military Cooperation in NATO represents an important milestone in the evolution of NATO’s political consultation process as well as being instrumental in reinforcing NATO’s political pillar. It is with great honour that we come together in this spirit to commemorate the legacy of these three elder statesmen whose pioneering vision of continuous political consultation and a more cooperative approach to international security issues continues to retain its relevance today as much as it did sixty years ago” (Foreword taken from 60th Anniversary of the Report on Non-Military Cooperation in NATO, NATO Publications, 2016)
On 30th November 2016, as a tribute to the Report of the Committee of Three, Ambassador Claudio Bisogniero, together with the Canadian and Norwegian Permanent Representatives to NATO, Amb. Kerry Buck and Amb. Knut Hauge, inaugurated the celebrations to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the Report, drafted in 1956 by Foreign Ministers of Canada (Lester B. Pearson), Italy (Gaetano Martino) and Norway (Halvard M. Lange).
The Report aimed to “advise the Council on ways and means to improve and extend NATO cooperation in non-military fields and to develop greater unity within the Atlantic Community“.
The exhibition, organized in cooperation with NATO Archives and Public Diplomacy Division, features historical photos of the three Foreign Ministers. An interesting book containing many documents of that time was also presented on that occasion.
The full photo gallery of the event is available on our Flickr page.
