Lisbon: Portugal has deployed an impressive number of policemen around the area where the 28 members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (Nato) will gather for one of their most crucial summits since the alliance was founded 61 years ago.

NAV, the air traffic managing company, on Thursday said that it was reducing the number of incoming flights from a maximum of 23 flights per hour to a maximum of 14 flights per hour.

The reduction will be from Thursday noon until Sunday noon, the company said.
Schengen agreements that allow people flying from Schengen zone countries into Portugal were temporarily suspended, and passengers were requested by gentle, but firm policemen to show their passports as they left the aircraft.

Portuguese authorities said that they would mobilize some 10,000 police to ensure the highest level of security during the Nato summit on Friday and Saturday.

However, outside the summit area, and except for some roads leading to the summit and media venues that were blocked, residents went on with their lives on Thursday, with the trashing by Portugal of their football rival Spain topped street conversations.

`It is great to have the leaders of dozens of countries in our lovely capital,’ Pedro, an airport officer said. ‘However, a great football match in which we punish Spain 4-0 or, more importantly, the difficult financial problems we have to confront to ensure we do not lapse economically like other countries, are very important for us,’ he said.

Dozens of young couples strutting the mosaic pavements of Avenida de Libertad in the heart of Lisbon clearly showed the jovial and carefree character of the Portuguese capital that could not be changed even by the arrival of some of the world’s most powerful leaders.

Shops remained open late in the evening, and in contrast with the previous Nato summits in Bucharest and Strasbourg, there is no tension or threats from anti-Nato activists.

A few miles away from the city centre, the Nato member state leaders on Friday start at the Feira Internacional de Lisboa, at Parque das Nações, pondering the best moves to ensure that their unity is reinforced and that their new strategy will usher in more cooperation from Russia.

Afghanistan will top the agenda after field reports recommended that 2014 should be the new date when Nato hands over control of the war-torn country to the Afghani army.
President Barack Obama’s initial plans for a quick end to Nato’s involvement in Afghanistan seem to be unrealistic and he and the other Nato leaders will have to settle for a more realistic date, four years ahead of Nato's 61st summit.