Web edition Vol. 47 - No. 4 Winter 1999 p. 26

Ireland joins Partnership for Peace Focus on NATO Irish Foreign Minister David Andrews (left) signs the PfP Framework Document and submits Irelands PfP Presentation Document to NATO Secretary General Lord Robertson, on 1 December. (Belga photo - 48Kb) On 1 December, Ireland became the 25th member of the Partnership for Peace (PfP) programme. Irish Foreign Minister David Andrews came to NATO headquarters in Brussels to sign the PfP Framework Document and submit Ireland's PfP Presentation Document, which sets out the basis for Irish participation in PfP, as approved by the Irish Parliament. Mr Andrews emphasised that Ireland's decision to join PfP was "in full accordance with Ireland's policy of neutrality", and that Ireland had no intention of joining the North Atlantic Alliance, or any other alliance. In remarks to the North Atlantic Council, he explained that Ireland - which plays an active role in United Nations peacekeeping and supports the further development of international strategies and actions for conflict prevention, peacekeeping and crisis management - "welcomes the role that peacekeeping has assumed in Partnership for Peace and looks forward to contributiong to Partnership activities in this area." He went on to say that "Ireland also looks forward to participation in the Euro-Atlantic Partnership Council. We see the EAPC as an important forum for discussions.... [and] a practical expression of the principle of mutually reinforcing cooperation in the search for peace and stability in Europe." At the signing ceremony, NATO Secretary General Lord Robertson praised Ireland as "one of the foremost contributors of well-trained troops to international peacekeeping missions" - pointing in particular to the Irish contributions of a military police company to SFOR and a transport company to KFOR - and said that "participation in PfP and EAPC will make Ireland's contribution even more effective." The next step will be to develop an Individual Partnership Programme for Ireland, based on the wide-ranging menu of cooperative activities available under PfP, which allows Partner countries to tailor their participation according to specific national requirements and priorities. As Mr Andrews stated in remarks to the North Atlantic Council: "Ireland attaches importance to the voluntary, flexible and self-differentiating characteristics of the Partnership for Peace."