Press conference

Deputy Spokesperson (Carmen Romero): The Secretary General and the German Foreign Minister will make short statements and take a few questions. Secretary General, please.

ANDERS FOGH RASMUSSEN (Secretary General, NATO): Thank you very much. Good afternoon. First of all, let me congratulate you, Mr. Westerwelle, Foreign Minister. Actually, we have known each other for quite some years. So it's really a great pleasure to receive you here, to meet with you in our new capacities. I look very much forward to cooperating with you and the new German government in fulfilling our goal to continue the development and renewal of NATO. And I welcome the fact that you have come so quickly to the NATO headquarters.

Next week, we are celebrating 20 years of the fall of the Berlin Wall. German unification sealed the end of the Cold War and demonstrated that steady engagement in and through the North Atlantic Alliance pays off in better security. Since unification, Germany has moved to the centre of NATO transformation from leading NATO's engagement with Russia to taking action to help bring peace to the Balkans, to our operation in Afghanistan. And I'm quite sure that the new government in Berlin will keep up this active and forward-leaning position in the spirit of solidarity that Germany has always embodied.

Today, Mr. Westerwelle and I have had a very positive and very fruitful meeting on a number of important issues. Let me just highlight our discussion on Afghanistan. We agree on the need to strengthen our endeavours, to hand over responsibility to the Afghans themselves and to help them develop the capacity to take care of their own country. That is a long-term perspective. Our mission in Afghanistan ends when the Afghans are capable to take care of their own country. We have also discussed Russia and the need for an improved relationship between NATO and Russia while we, of course, stick to our core principles. And finally, we have also discussed the development of a new strategic concept for NATO, a strategic concept which will define the new NATO, the NATO of the 21st century. So we have a lot on the plate and I look very much forward to cooperating with you on that. Minister.

GUIDO WESTERWELLE (Minister of Foreign Affairs, Germany): (Voice of interpreter) Thank you, ladies and gentlemen. Thank you to you, Secretary General, Mr. Rasmussen. Allow me at the outset to express my gratitude for the hospitality showed to me today and the opportunity to come here and visit NATO's headquarters right at the outset of my term in office as Foreign Minister. (Inaudible) I want to underline that point: NATO has always been more than a mere defence alliance. It's always been more than a military alliance. For us, NATO is a community of shared values. It is linked to much more than just military interest, strategic interest, defence policy interest. It is linked to the view of a world that we have that is ruled by democratic principles and the rule of law.

And of course, now we… NATO is standing at a crossroads. The most successful alliance of our times has to be prepared for the future lying ahead. Thus I was delighted to hear that the work has already begun on the drafting of a new strategic concept.

We had a very intensive exchange of views on Afghanistan and have been in general agreement.

We very much focused on a successful civilian reconstruction process in the country, but we need the one prerequisite for such a successful reconstruction is military protection, the provision of security.

We stand by what we said on earlier occasions that the new President of Afghanistan, the re-elected President of Afghanistan has to strive to be the President of all Afghans, of Afghanistan as a whole. And we very much wish him the strength and of course, the readiness to build bridges and to unite the various interests of the country.

For us it's crystal clear and this brings me to my final point before I make a very topical statement, for us it's always been clear that German foreign policy is a policy aiming at peace. And with respect to this, we will continue to support the disarmament efforts taken all over the world, especially those envisaged by the Americans.

But it is equally clear that those efforts aiming at disarming the world should not only be supported by the Germans but what we want to do is to work with others, with our allies and partners as close as possible and to coordinate our actions very closely with them.

We will take decisions together. The German… the new federal German government is not aiming at going matters alone.

And finally, to conclude, let me share with you the fact that once we were a busy talking about urgent issues, we received excellent news indeed.

I very much welcome on behalf of the German government the fact that President Klaus has signed the ratification document to the Lisbon Treaty. This is indeed a good day for Europe. It is a good day for all the members of the European Union because, as a consequence of this, the ability of the European Union to take action has been strongly increased. Everyone in Europe can be very pleased about this decision. It's good for Europe. It is also good for Germany. I think we will remember for some time to come this day because it was the day on which the path was prepared for increasing Europe's ability to take action. Thank you.

DEPUTY SPOKESPERSON: Questions?

UNIDENTIFIED JOURNALIST 1: (Inaudible) from DPA at the German Press Agency. Question to the Secretary General. Mr. Rasmussen, do you think that the removal of all nuclear U.S. warheads from Europe and in particular from Germany will be conducive to the Alliance security?

ANDERS FOGH RASMUSSEN: Well let me put it this way: it is only natural that there is a political discussion and a discussion in our publics about our nuclear strategy. Having said that, I also think it's of outmost importance that any step, that any decision on this takes place within the Alliance in a much lateral framework and that no unilateral step is taken, because this is a question which concerns all allies. It's a question about the overall security and deterrence and I have noted with satisfaction that this is also the position of the new German government that any steps and any discussion or any decision will take place in a multilateral framework.

DEPUTY SPOKESPERSON: Next question.

JOURNALIST 2: Barbara (inaudible), Associated Press. On Afghanistan, Secretary General, did you speak about the airstrike in Kunduz? According to ISAF of the German commando who ordered the attack made some mistakes. So what can be done in the future to avoid such mistakes? (German translation)

ANDERS FOGH RASMUSSEN: Well we have not discussed the ISAF report in detail. We have touched upon it. What I can say is that I have seen the ISAF report on the incident. I will not comment on the content. It's now up to the German authorities to decide whether further actions should be taken.

GUIDO WESTERWELLE: (Voice of interpreter) Let me just say that as far as this report is concerned, it is being analysed in the Federal Republic of Germany right now by the federal Ministry of Defence. Once that process has come to an end, we will, of course, draw our conclusions and discuss those conclusions with all parties involved. But let me make a general remark. I believe that our soldiers are doing an excellent job as part of that mission on the ground and they are doing that job under very difficult conditions indeed. We must never forget the fact that that is so. They deserve our respect for the contribution that they make. But as far as the report is concerned, as I said, it will be analysed thoroughly and we will then talk and discuss the conclusions with the parties and sides in both.

Let me add just one more remark because I'm standing here right now.

We are aiming and focusing on civilian reconstruction. We want civilian reconstruction. We want to build a security environment that is self-sustainable. But at the same time, we are very much aware of the fact that without protecting the men and women, without protecting… the protection of the men and the women, without the protection of the soldiers, there would be no chance whatsoever for such a civilian reconstruction process to take place.

DEPUTY SPOKESPERSON: Last question to ARD TV.

JOURNALIST 3: Yes, thank you. Mr. General Secretary, how do you judge the situation now in Afghanistan after the decision of annulation of the elections, first question? And second question: did you speak with Mr. Westerwelle about more troops in Afghanistan, more troops for example from Germany?

ANDERS FOGH RASMUSSEN: Whenever I meet political leaders from allied countries, I speak with them about troops! Because we need further contributions to our mission in Afghanistan. In particular, I have stressed the need for trainers to make sure that our training mission in Afghanistan will be fully equipped. And this is very much about the core goal of our presence in Afghanistan. I have repeatedly made clear that we will stay in Afghanistan as long as it takes to finish our job. But obviously, that is not forever. As I have said, our mission in Afghanistan will end when the Afghans are capable to take care of their own country. And therefore, we need to train and educate more Afghan soldiers and more Afghan police. And to that end we need a strong training mission. And we need trainers. We also need money to finance an increased number of Afghan soldiers and Afghan police. So I always urge allies to step up their contributions to our training mission.

Concerning the situation in Afghanistan in general, the electoral process has now come to an end. And I congratulate President Karzai on the continuation of his presidency. It is now of outmost importance that he lives up to our expectation to create a broader political basis, to establish a strong, inclusive government so that we have a strong and reliable partner to deal with in Kabul. That's the first very important step. Next, I think the international community as such must strengthen the organization and coordination of the civilian reconstruction and development. And I think we have to renew the contract between the international community and the government in Kabul. We must convey a very clear message to the new government in Kabul that it is a prerequisite for a continued, strong international commitment to Afghanistan that the government in Kabul strengthens the fight against corruption, delivers basic services to the Afghan people. These are our expectations. And I feel confident that President Karzai and the new government will live up to these expectations.

UNIDENTIFIED JOURNALIST 3: Thank you very much.

GUIDO WESTERWELLE: In the foreseeable future, that I don't want to anticipate that debate and I beg your understanding for that being the case. Thank you.