NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen speaks at a press conference after the joint meeting of NATO's foreign and defence ministers in Brussels, Belgium, Oct. 14, 2010. Rasmussen said Thursday that he was "quite optimistic" that the anti-missile shield covering all NATO members would be adopted at the alliance's summit in Lisbon, Portugal on Nov. 19-20.

NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said Thursday that he was "quite optimistic" the anti-missile shield covering all NATO members would be adopted at the alliance's summit in Lisbon, Portugal on Nov. 19-20.

At a news conference after a joint meeting of foreign and defence ministers, Fogh Rasmussen said that "I was very encouraged by the discussions today and the Allied commitment to modernize the Alliance for the twenty-first century. I also think we are moving towards a consensus, at the Lisbon Summit, to consider that NATO should develop a capacity to protect populations and territories of European countries against missile attack."

He told journalists that the ministers had reached broad agreement on the anti-missile shield, though some technical problems still remain to be solved.

The final decision is to be made at the summit and he was " quite optimistic" about the outcome, he said.

The Secretary General also hoped that Russia could participate in the creation of the missile defense system.