Press conference

JAMES APPATHURAI (NATO Spokesman): Ladies and gentlemen the Secretary General will make an opening statement then we'll have time for questions.

Secretary General.

JAAP DE HOOP SCHEFFER (NATO Secretary General): Good morning.

Well today's extraordinary meeting of the North Atlantic Council was ofcourse first and foremost for Britain's 25 allies in NATO to expresstheir unwavering solidarity and support in response to yesterday'sattacks.

We began the meeting with a minute of silencefor the victims and, as you will have seen and as you can see in fact,the flags here at NATO are all at half-mast.

Weconveyed to the United Kingdom Ambassador, Sir Peter Ricketts, our deepcondolences to the people of the United Kingdom, to the victims, totheir families and to the people of the United Kingdom.

And respect was shown around the table for the dignity, the calm andthe resilience with which they have faced, they, the people of theUnited Kingdom, have faced this great shock.

We heardfrom Sir Peter Ricketts the United Kingdom initial views on what hashappened and the measures the United Kingdom authorities are taking torespond both to manage the consequences of the attack and to find thoseresponsible. And full confidence was shown of course in the Britishauthorities to find the perpetrators and bring them to justice and allNATO nations, all ambassadors, were fully committed and are fullycommitted to help and they stated that very clearly here today.

It is clear that yesterday's horrific events in London only reinforcethe determination of the NATO allies to continue with their operationsand with our missions who also have this drive, as far as NATO isconcerned, to fight the fight against terrorism together--be itAfghanistan, be it our naval patrols in the Mediterranean, be it thetraining mission in Iraq.

We must deny to continue- wemust continue to deny operating bases to terrorists; and we mustcontinue to tighten the ring around them.

At the sametime however we must continue to tackle terrorism at its roots bysupporting reform in those regions where it can threaten to grow andhere too NATO is playing its part, and NATO will continue to play itspart by offering partnership and assistance as you know to anincreasing number of countries.

As we have seen in NewYork, Washington, Madrid, Istanbul and many other places around theworld terrorists can cause, and we saw it in London yesterday, massivedamage and massive and incredible human suffering. And yet I'm firmlyconvinced that time is not on their side because the terrorists whocommit these acts, like the one we saw yesterday, have no politicalvision to advance nor any just cause to pursue.

For them violence is an end in itself. This is simple nihilism and that is why ultimately they will not succeed.

We are, the North Atlantic Council, the ambassadors, NATO governments,are harbouring of course no illusions as to the time and the effortthis will take. This is a long term challenge. There are no quick fixesbut we can prevail through patience, persistence and above all throughthe active solidarity of all democratic nations and that was shownagain around the NATO table this morning.

We do it, wepractice it here at NATO from day to day, day by day in our politicaldiscussions and in our consultations but first and foremost in theoperations ambitions we are undertaking. And that is why for us and forthe North Atlantic Council this morning the tragic events of yesterdayare not a reason to despair but to redouble our efforts within NATO butalso certainly between NATO and other international organizations likethe European Union, the United Nations and many others.

And I think we can take an example, we can consider the Londoners, thepeople, the emergency services in London as an example of this. Not areason to despair, but fighting terrorism wherever it occurs becauseit's an international scourge, an international challenge; and the mosteffective way to defeat it is through international solidarity and noone should have any doubt the NATO allies will stand together.

Let me end by a remark which was made around the table this morning andI think goes to the heart of the matter. It was crystal clear thismorning that when NATO, which is a value-based organization, has alwaysdefended values in all the decades of its existence, and is doing thattoday again because those values are threatened by those sameterrorists. It was said around the table that we should realize that weare doing what we are doing not only for our generation but morespecifically for generations to come.

That they canenjoy as well our open, free and democratic societies which are thecore values this Alliance has always stood for.

Thank you very much.

Q:M. le secrétaire général est-ce que vous pourriez nous dire en françaisexactement ce que vous avez dit concernant la poursuite des missionsbien sûr en Irak et en Afghanistan et puis nous expliquer qu'est-ce quia été pris comme décisions concrètes au niveau de le partage desrenseignements entre les pays membres?

DE HOOP SCHEFFER: Ilest clair que les opérations et les missions de l'OTAN bien sûr sontimportantes dans la lutte contre le terrorisme, la lutte commune contrele terrorisme.

Si j'évoque l'opération de l'OTAN enAfghanistan, pourquoi est-on là? Bien sûr pour donner le soutient augouvernement du président Karzai mais aussi pour prévenir quel'Afghanistan comme le pays était sous le Taliban devient de nouveau unexportateur de terrorisme. C'est ça. C'est la raison qu'on est là biensûr et ça va aussi pour les autres opérations et missions de l'OTAN.

Il est clair, il est clair comme vous venez de dire que l'échange desrenseignements est un des éléments qu'il nous faut renforcer.

Quand j'évoque la relation et la coopération nécessaire entre l'OTAN,l'Union européenne, les Nations Unies et les autres organisationsinternationales, si j'évoque nos partenaires, si j'évoque les relationsqu'on a avec par exemple la région du Moyen-Orient, notre Dialogueméditerranéen, les initiatives de coopération d'Istanbul, c'est aussibien sûr important dans ce cadre d'avoir une échange de renseignements.D'être efficace, d'être effectif, et je crois dans ce domaine onpourrait faire plus, on pourrait faire plus.

Q (Nile News, Egyptian Television):Thank you very much. Mr. Secretary General, we know the role of NATO infighting against(?) terrorists but in a practical way what NATO cangive the partner to make them to avoid such an easy target like anattack in public transportation? Thank you.

DE HOOP SCHEFFER: Thank you very much.

It is, let me repeat that and Prime Minister Blair said it and manyother world leaders said it yesterday, I think we should not have theillusion that we can protect our free, open and democratic societiesfor the full 100 percent against these horrendous acts of terrorismbecause these people are only there to kill--to kill as many people aspossible, to kill indiscriminately, to kill the average Londoner, orthe average citizen of Istanbul, or New York, or Washington. That'stheir objective.

But what we can do, and that's why Iwas specifically mentioning NATO's partnerships and I was alsomentioning may I say your region, the Middle East, we should worktogether as much as we can because only if we have as close acooperation as possible we can fight this scourge.

Andthat is what was reconfirmed this morning around the NATO table as ithas been reconfirmed in Gleneagles by Prime Minister Blair, by manyother world leaders yesterday.

And we should be aware,we should be aware that these people will go on in trying to destroythe values which are so dear to us all and which are the reason ofexistence for this Alliance, for NATO.

Q (Lithuanian Radio and Television): Mr. Secretary General would there be any necessity of evoking Article 4 or Article 5 of the Treaty regarding the London events?

DE HOOP SCHEFFER: Youknow that the decision taken in 2001 is still in force as far asOperation Active Endeavour is concerned. I can tell you that the UnitedKingdom Government has not asked for invoking Article 5.

Q (Jane's Defense Weekly): My question is, has the UK Government asked NATO for any assistance with air surveillance of any kind?

DE HOOP SCHEFFER:At the moment the situation is that the United Kingdom Government hasindicated and we saw the great efficiency yesterday as I said in myintroductory statement, has indicated that they can cope. But it isclear and it was said around the table that whenever the United KingdomGovernment might decide assistance in any form of NATO would be needed,NATO will be ready and all the allies confirmed that they will be readyto give it.

Q (BBC Television):This meeting, this extraordinary meeting, was at ambassador level; willthere be further special meetings at a higher level to discuss NATO'ssecurity readiness in light of these attacks?

DE HOOP SCHEFFER:Well we have not planned higher level meetings. We have the Council inPermanent Session, as it's called, which convened this morning. It isclear of course that once again on the basis of the terrible thingswhich happened in London last- which happened in London yesterday, theCouncil in Permanent Session which discusses on a regular basis theterrorism and what NATO can do against terrorism will go on to discussthis and they do that of course upon instructions of their capitals.

And we do discuss, indeed may I give you two examples, we do discussindeed how we can better fight and how we can better recognizeimprovised explosive devices, what NATO can do in the sphere ofchemical biological and other weapons of mass destruction.

I mean that is very much on our agenda and that is what ambassadorsdiscuss on a permanent basis and what we are discussing and shoulddiscuss as I said during my introduction with other internationalorganizations as well.

APPATHURAI: I think that's all the questions we have.

DE HOOP SCHEFFER: Thank you very much.

Thank you.