The Middle East, North Africa and Sahel regions are of ‘strategic importance’ to NATO, as per the 2022 Strategic Concept. In 2024, NATO underwent a reflection process to identify opportunities for cooperation with partners in these regions and to tackle common threats. This process took place within a broader context of strategic competition: war has come back to the European continent, and NATO’s efforts have been refocused back on collective defence. At the same time, the various regions in NATO’s southern neighbourhood are facing a multifaceted set of threats and challenges, which require different responses and different forms of security cooperation. This chapter takes stock of NATO’s position towards (as it is often referred to) ‘the South.’ It examines the current partnership between the Alliance and the southern neighbourhood, and the factors that led NATO to begin this process. It evaluates the extent to which NATO and partners can cooperate in tackling emerging security threats, starting from the ‘re-emerging’ threat of state-based aggression. In doing so, it also highlights the challenges that make it difficult to develop a stronger partnership. The chapter concludes by sketching avenues for the future relationship between NATO and the Southern neighbourhood in a world of strategic competition.