Meeting on security issues in South Eastern Europe

NATO representatives participated in the fourth meeting of what is called the "Working Table on Security Issues", set up within the framework of the European Union's Stability Pact for South Eastern Europe. Representatives from the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia participated, for the first time, in these deliberations held in Zagreb, Croatia, 12-13 June.

The aim of the meeting was to discuss future priorities and activities of the Working Table, which deals with issues such as border security, the problem of trafficking in Small Arms and Light Weapons, reform in the security sector, demining and disaster preparedness and prevention. The overall aim of the Working Table is to initiate programmes which will help contribute to the integration of the countries of the region into European and Euro-Atlantic structures.

NATO is actively involved in the process. The Alliance launched the South East Europe Initiative (SEEI) at the Washington Summit in 1999 to promote security and stability in the region. The Alliance views SEEI as complementary to and supportive of the objectives of EU-initiated Stability Pact. The Stability Pact is now under the auspices of the OSCE.

NATO played a central role in a new form of cooperation in which the overall political umbrella of the Stability Pact facilitated establishing programmes for the retraining and resettlement of redundant military personnel in Bulgaria, Romania and Croatia (nearly 60,000 total for the 3 countries). NATO provided advice and expertise in the development of the programmes which then satisfied the requirements of the World Bank and other donors. Financial arrangements were worked out between the countries and the donors. The programmes have begun in Bulgaria and Romania and a NATO expert team, with the World Bank and Stability Pact as observers, have visited Croatia to begin work. About 3,500 personnel in Bulgaria and Romania have taken advantage of the programme to date.

NATO has begun to expand this model of cooperation to the field of military base closure and conversion to civilian use, and announced this at the Working Table meeting. Concrete planning has begun with Bulgaria and Romania who have selected pilot projects for NATO-team visits in September. NATO has also established a Trust Fund administered by a NATO agency to dispose of anti-personnel land mines in Albania and Moldova. NATO offered this financial management along with ammunition disposal expertise to the donor community at the Working Table meeting to establish a capability for disposal of thousands of tonnes of excess and aged ammunition in Albania.

This formula of using NATO advice and expertise--essentially free consulting--and attaching NATO prestige to bolster the credibility of national and regional proposals with donors in the framework of the Stability Pact has paid off with concrete results. NATO also suggested and supported development and the recent approval of the South East Europe Common Assessment Paper (SEECAP) on Regional Security Challenges and Opportunities, endorsed at the meeting of Foreign Ministers in Budapest, 29-30 May 2001.

The participants in the "Working Table" underscored the complementary role of all structures put into place by the EU and NATO for South East Europe and the need to formulate a programme of action for each priority area identified. At present, they concluded, the ultimate aim is to achieve tangible results in these priority areas, to help contribute to long-term stability in the region.