Partnership for Peace (PfP)

The Partnership for Peace (PfP) is a major NATO initiative introduced in January 1994. The program aims to enhance cooperation and stability in Central and Eastern European countries while increasing interoperability between the Partner Nations (PN) and NATO. The core objectives PfP nations pursue are the transparency in national defense planning and budgeting processes; ensuring democratic control of defense forces; developing interoperable forces and command/control structures; and preparing PNs to contribute to operations under NATO authority. There are currently 20 PfP member states located in Europe and Central Asia.

PfP plays a crucial role in contributing to peace and stability in the Euro-Atlantic area, and is a key mechanism in helping NATO-aspirant countries attain NATO interoperability and membership. PfP has helped prepare participating nations become more militarily capable to participate in NATO-led peacekeeping operations. Funding for eligible Partner Nations is provided through Warsaw Initiative Funds (WIF).

PfP on the NATO Homepage

List of PfP Member Countries

PfP is a NATO-led program, launched at the 1994 Brussels Summit, to improve security cooperation between NATO and Partner countries in Central and Eastern Europe. As a "stepping stone" to NATO, it focuses on building stronger political and military interactions, and increasing NATO interoperability. Twenty-seven countries are members of PfP; twenty-two in the EUCOM AOR, and five in CENTCOM. Seven nations have just ascended to NATO, and will leave the PfP program at the end of this Fiscal Year.

There are six key components of PfP:

Partnership Work Program (PWP)- a comprehensive list of all PfP activities such as exercises and conferences open to all Partners. Using the PWP each Partner develops its annual Individual Partnership Program, which states a Partner's priorities for participation. It also forms the basis for budgeting for participation in PfP activities.

Political-Military Steering Committee- manages PfP programs and processes. It is an NATO body that meets regularly with Partners to address policy questions and ways to improve PfP.

Planning and Review Process (PARP)- designed to develop Partner interoperability with NATO, especially for crisis response operations such as SFOR and KFOR. The PARP also provides Partners an idea of the kind of defense-related efforts that will be required after NATO entry.

Partnership Coordination Cell- the central coordinating body for PfP military activities, and consists of a permanent staff and liaison officers from twenty-four Partner countries stationed in Mons, Belgium.

PfP Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA)- provides a framework for addressing issues related to the presence of personnel from on PfP country in another. All the NATO Allies and nineteen Partners have signed a PfP SOFA.

Exercises- NATO sponsored PfP exercises and nationally sponsored "in the spirit of (ISO) PfP" exercises are the most effective means of building Partner interoperability with NATO.

Funding for PfP nations is provided through the Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA) and EUCOM budgets and executes these funds for sixteen of the twenty-two EUCOM AOR PfP countries. EUCOM does not fund the five "advanced" PfP countries (Austria, Finland, Ireland, Sweden, Switzerland) or Belarus (US policy restrictions). The main use of funds is for Partner nations to participate in NATO/PfP and ISO PfP exercises, both types which focus on operations such as peace support, search and rescue, communications, humanitarian assistance, and force protection.