The NATO Summit officially begins with the family photo of the leaders of the 30 allied countries

MADRID, 29 Jun. (EUROPA PRESS) -

The NATO Summit officially started at 10:30 a.m. this Wednesday after the traditional family photo of the leaders of the 30 allied countries gathered at Ifema together with the NATO Secretary General, Jens Stoltenberg.

It is the first image that brings together the 30 allies in Madrid after the failed attempt this Tuesday at the dinner offered by the King at the Royal Palace, to which Stoltenberg himself and the leaders of Turkey, Sweden and Finland were absent, meeting to close the agreement that will allow the incorporation of these two countries to the Alliance.

The presidents and prime ministers have been arriving at Ifema since 8 in the morning. The first to do so was the leader of NATO and after him Pedro Sánchez, followed little by little by the rest of the leaders until the arrival of the president of the United States, Joe Biden, who was the last to join.

In the family photo -with only four women surrounded by 27 men-, the NATO leader has posed in the central part with Sánchez on his right and Biden on his left. Then all of them went to the room of the Atlantic Council where the main sessions of the Summit are being held these two days.

It is a room of more than 1,700 square meters with a total capacity of 290 people, twenty double booths for simultaneous interpretation and a technical control room. Next to it there is another room for parallel meetings of ministers of 1,400 square meters and a capacity of 175 people, in addition to twenty rooms for bilateral meetings.

The Summit had its first success before starting with the approval of the expansion of the Alliance. In addition, Ukraine will have a very special presence at the Summit despite the fact that its president, Volodímir Zelensky, will not finally travel to Madrid, although he will participate via videoconference in its first session, dedicated precisely to Ukraine.

It will also address the famous Strategic Concept that will be approved and that sets the Alliance's lines of action for the coming years. Spain has placed special interest in this contemplating a "360 degree" vision and making reference to the threats coming from the south.