North Atlantic Treaty Organization – or NATO - All You Need To Know

• Formed in 1949 to counter the threat of post-War Communist expansion as the Soviet Union sought to extend its influence in Europe
• Originally consisting of 12 countries: Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Iceland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, the UK and the US
• The organisation expanded to include Greece and Turkey in 1952 West Germany in 1955, and Spain in 1982. However, then, as now, the alliance was militarily dominated by the US
• The Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland became the first former Warsaw Pact countries to gain Nato membership, in 1999
• Currently has 28 members. Before Montenegro's admission in 2016, the most recent recruits were Albania and Croatia in 2009, and Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Slovenia, Slovakia, Bulgaria and Romania, which joined in 2004

Note

North Macedonia set to join NATO as its 30th Member State

Nato Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg and Macedonian Foreign Minister Nikola Dimitrov led the 'accession protocol' signing ceremony on Wednesday Feb 06,2019 at the alliance's Brussels headquarters.