Video interview

Q: Austria was one of the partner nations who requested a change to the Trust Fund policy that would enable partner nations to take the leading role in projects. Why was this important to you?

FRANZ CEDE (Head of the Mission of the Republic of Austria to NATO): Humanitarian reasons motivated us to engage in mine action in trust funds. The fact the scourge of land mines still affects 20,000 new victims each year, most of them civilians, is intolerable.

We very much appreciate the revised Trust Fund project policy which extends the scope of TFP and allows for partners to play a more active role such as taking on the lead role, or lead role or co-lead nation or role. It is learning by doing process; that's why we choose a co-lead nation role to gain from the experience of Canada. We try a pragmatic approach in the current project. We function as a guinea pig in some way and hope to send a positive signal to other partners to follow our path.

Some administrative arrangements need to be overhauled. For example, a more direct contact between partners and NAMSA as implementing agency should be established.

Some partners have considerable interest in mine action or small arms and light weapons. A lead nation role allows for the mobilization of additional resources.
Although much needs still to be done in fighting the scourge of anti-personnel land mines, Austria welcomes the extension of the scope of TFPs to areas such as unexploded ordnances, of solves(?) and defence reform.

Q: Austria together with Canada has just launched a new Trust Fund project for the destruction of anti-personnel land mines in Serbia and Montenegro. Why did you choose to take the leading role in this particular project?

FRANZ CEDE: The Balkans region is a focus for our foreign policy and our anti-mine action policy. We welcome eventual membership of Serbia and Montenegro as well as Bosnia-Herzegovina in the PfP program although specific conditions still have to be met first. I refer to (inaudible) Operation and to the defence sector reform.

We are interested to help bring Serbia and Montenegro closer to the Euro-Atlantic security structures.

This project of the destruction of more than 1.3 million anti-personnel land mines at a total cost of 1.6 million Euros allows Serbia and Montenegro to fulfil its obligations and the Ottawa Convention and thus contributes to the creation of a region free of land mines in south-eastern Europe.

Such projects can increase the trust between the Serbian authorities and NATO and PfP members.

Q: Austria has supported other Trust Fund projects for the destruction of land mines. Why do your authorities attach such an importance to this issue?

FRANZ CEDE: We contributed financially to the TFP to destroy 1.6 million anti-personnel mines in Albania which was also led by Canada. The program was completed in April 2002 and we gather that everybody was happy with the Canadian lead role in Albania.

We also take on an active role in the formulation of the Ottawa Convention, we were among the first to accede to this Convention and it was an Austrian diplomat who was presiding over the Review Conference Nairobi Summit on a Mine-Free World.

Our financial contribution by the European Commission and our bilateral anti-mine action program, we spent more than six million Euros since 2001, bilateral on such actions with particular focus on southeast Europe and southern Africa.

Q: Thank you very much.