PRESS COMMUNIQUE M-1(94)3                For immediate release
                                               11 January 1994



       DECLARATION OF THE HEADS OF STATE AND GOVERNMENT
  PARTICIPATING IN THE MEETING OF THE NORTH ATLANTIC COUNCIL
             HELD AT NATO HEADQUARTERS, BRUSSELS,
                     ON 10-11 JANUARY 1994


     1.   We, the Heads of State and Government of the member
countries of the North Atlantic Alliance, have gathered in
Brussels to renew our Alliance in light of the historic
transformations affecting the entire continent of Europe.  We
welcome the new climate of cooperation that has emerged in Europe
with the end of the period of global confrontation embodied in
the Cold War.  However, we must also note that other causes of
instability, tension and conflict have emerged.  We therefore
confirm the enduring validity and indispensability of our
Alliance.  It is based on a strong transatlantic link, the
expression of a shared destiny.  It reflects a European Security
and Defence Identity gradually emerging as the expression of a
mature Europe.  It is reaching out to establish new patterns of
cooperation throughout Europe.  It rests, as also reflected in
Article 2 of the Washington Treaty, upon close collaboration in
all fields.

          Building on our decisions in London and Rome and on our
new Strategic Concept, we are undertaking initiatives designed
to contribute to lasting peace, stability, and well-being in the
whole of Europe, which has always been our Alliance's fundamental
goal.  We have agreed: 

     -    to adapt further the Alliance's political and military
          structures to reflect both the full spectrum of its
          roles and the development of the emerging European
          Security and Defence Identity, and endorse the concept
          of Combined Joint Task Forces;

     -    to reaffirm that the Alliance remains open to the
          membership of other European countries;

     -    to launch a major initiative through a Partnership for
          Peace, in which we invite Partners to join us in new
          political and military efforts to work alongside the
          Alliance;

     -    to intensify our efforts against the proliferation of
          weapons of mass destruction and their means of
          delivery.

     2.   We reaffirm our strong commitment to the transatlantic
link, which is the bedrock of NATO.  The continued substantial
presence of United States forces in Europe is a fundamentally
important aspect of that link.  All our countries wish to
continue the direct involvement of the United States and Canada
in the security of Europe.  We note that this is also the
expressed wish of the new democracies of the East, which see in
the transatlantic link an irreplaceable pledge of security and
stability for Europe as a whole.  The fuller integration of the
countries of Central and Eastern Europe and of the former Soviet
Union into a Europe whole and free cannot be successful without
the strong and active participation of all Allies on both sides
of the Atlantic.

     3.   Today, we confirm and renew this link between North
America and a Europe developing a Common Foreign and Security
Policy and taking on greater responsibility on defence matters. 
We welcome the entry into force of the Treaty of Maastricht and
the launching of the European Union, which will strengthen the
European pillar of the Alliance and allow it to make a more
coherent contribution to the security of all the Allies.  We
reaffirm that the Alliance is the essential forum for
consultation among its members and the venue for agreement on
policies bearing on the security and defence commitments of
Allies under the Washington Treaty.

     4.   We give our full support to the development of a
European Security and Defence Identity which, as called for in
the Maastricht Treaty, in the longer term perspective of a common
defence policy within the European Union, might in time lead to
a common defence compatible with that of the Atlantic Alliance. 
The emergence of a European Security and Defence Identity will
strengthen the European pillar of the Alliance while reinforcing
the transatlantic link and will enable European Allies to take
greater responsibility for their common security and defence. 
The Alliance and the European Union share common strategic
interests.

     5.   We support strengthening the European pillar of the
Alliance through the Western European Union, which is being
developed as the defence component of the European Union.  The
Alliance's organisation and resources  will be adjusted so as to
facilitate this.  We welcome the close and growing cooperation
between NATO and the WEU that has been achieved on the basis of
agreed principles of complementarity and transparency.  In future
contingencies, NATO and the WEU will consult, including as
necessary through joint Council meetings, on how to address such
contingencies.

     6.   We therefore stand ready to make collective assets of
the Alliance available, on the basis of consultations in the
North Atlantic Council, for WEU operations undertaken by the
European Allies in pursuit of their Common Foreign and Security
Policy.  We support the development of separable but not separate
capabilities which could respond to European requirements and
contribute to Alliance security.  Better European coordination
and planning will also strengthen the European pillar and the
Alliance itself.  Integrated and multinational European
structures, as they are further developed in the context of an
emerging European Security and Defence Identity, will also
increasingly have a similarly important role to play in enhancing
the Allies' ability to work together in the common defence and
other tasks.

     7.   In pursuit of our common transatlantic security
requirements, NATO increasingly will be called upon to undertake
missions in addition to the traditional and fundamental task of
collective defence of its members, which remains a core function. 
We reaffirm our offer to support, on a case by case basis in
accordance with our own procedures, peacekeeping and other
operations under the authority of the UN Security Council or the
responsibility of the CSCE, including by making available
Alliance resources and expertise.  Participation in any such
operation or mission will remain subject to decisions of member
states in accordance with national constitutions.

     8.   Against this background, NATO must continue the
adaptation of its command and force structure in line with
requirements for flexible and timely responses contained in the
Alliance's Strategic Concept.  We also will need to strengthen
the European pillar of the Alliance by facilitating the use of
our military capabilities for NATO and European/WEU operations,
and assist participation of non-NATO partners in joint
peacekeeping operations and other contingencies as envisaged
under the Partnership for Peace.

     9.   Therefore, we direct the North Atlantic Council in
Permanent Session, with the advice of the NATO Military
Authorities, to examine how the Alliance's political and military
structures and procedures might be developed and adapted to
conduct more efficiently and flexibly the Alliance's missions,
including peacekeeping, as well as to improve cooperation with
the WEU and to reflect the emerging European Security and Defence
Identity.  As part of this process, we endorse the concept of
Combined Joint Task Forces as a means to facilitate contingency
operations, including operations with participating nations
outside the Alliance.  We have directed the North Atlantic
Council, with the advice of the NATO Military Authorities, to
develop this concept and establish the necessary capabilities. 
The Council, with the advice of the NATO Military Authorities,
and in coordination with the WEU, will work on implementation in
a manner that provides separable but not separate military
capabilities that could be employed by NATO or the WEU.  The
North Atlantic Council in Permanent Session will report on the
implementation of these decisions to Ministers at their next
regular meeting in June 1994.

     10.  Our own security is inseparably linked to that of all
other states in Europe.  The consolidation and preservation
throughout the continent of democratic societies and their
freedom from any form of coercion or intimidation are therefore
of direct and material concern to us, as they are to all other
CSCE states under the commitments of the Helsinki Final Act and
the Charter of Paris.  We remain deeply committed to further
strengthening the CSCE, which is the only organisation comprising
all European and North American countries, as an instrument of
preventive diplomacy, conflict prevention, cooperative security,
and the advancement of democracy and human rights.  We actively
support the efforts to enhance the operational capabilities of
the CSCE for early warning, conflict prevention, and crisis
management.

     11.  As part of our overall effort to promote preventive
diplomacy, we welcome the European Union proposal for a Pact on
Stability in Europe, will contribute to its elaboration, and look
forward to the opening conference which will take place in Paris
in the Spring.

     12.  Building on the close and long-standing partnership
among the North American and European Allies, we are committed
to enhancing security and stability in the whole of Europe.  We
therefore wish to strengthen ties with the democratic states to
our East.  We reaffirm that the Alliance, as provided for in
Article 10 of the Washington Treaty, remains open to membership
of other European states in a position to further the principles
of the Treaty and to contribute to the security of the North
Atlantic area.  We expect and would welcome NATO expansion that
would reach to democratic states to our East, as part of an
evolutionary process, taking into account political and security
developments in the whole of Europe.

     13.  We have decided to launch an immediate and practical
programme that will transform the relationship between NATO and
participating states.  This new programme goes beyond dialogue
and cooperation to forge a real partnership - a Partnership for
Peace.  We invite the other states participating in the NACC, and
other CSCE countries able and willing to contribute to this
programme, to join with us in this Partnership.  Active
participation in the Partnership for Peace will play an important
role in the evolutionary process of the expansion of NATO.

     14.  The Partnership for Peace, which will operate under the
authority of the North Atlantic Council, will forge new security
relationships between the North Atlantic Alliance and its
Partners for Peace.  Partner states will be invited by the North
Atlantic Council to participate in political and military bodies
at NATO Headquarters with respect to Partnership activities.  The
Partnership will expand and intensify political and military
cooperation throughout Europe, increase stability, diminish
threats to peace, and build strengthened relationships by
promoting the spirit of practical cooperation and commitment to
democratic principles that underpin our Alliance.  NATO will
consult with any active participant in the Partnership if that
partner perceives a direct threat to its territorial integrity,
political independence, or security.  At a pace and scope
determined by the capacity and desire of the individual
participating states, we will work in concrete ways towards
transparency in defence budgeting, promoting democratic control
of defence ministries, joint planning, joint military exercises,
and creating an ability to operate with NATO forces in such
fields as peacekeeping, search and rescue and humanitarian
operations, and others as may be agreed. 

     15.  To promote closer military cooperation and
interoperability, we will propose, within the Partnership
framework, peacekeeping field exercises beginning in 1994.  To
coordinate joint military activities within the Partnership, we
will invite states participating in the Partnership to send
permanent liaison officers to NATO Headquarters and a separate
Partnership Coordination Cell at Mons (Belgium) that would, under
the authority of the North Atlantic Council, carry out the
military planning necessary to implement the Partnership
programmes.

     16.  Since its inception two years ago, the North Atlantic
Cooperation Council has greatly expanded the depth and scope of
its activities.  We will continue to work with all our NACC
partners to build cooperative relationships across the entire
spectrum of the Alliance's activities.  With the expansion of
NACC activities and the establishment of the Partnership for
Peace, we have decided to offer permanent facilities at NATO
Headquarters for personnel from NACC countries and other
Partnership for Peace participants in order to improve our
working relationships and facilitate closer cooperation.

     17.  Proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and their
delivery means constitutes a threat to international security and
is a matter of concern to NATO.  We have decided to intensify and
expand NATO's political and defence efforts against
proliferation, taking into account the work already underway in
other international fora and institutions.  In this regard, we
direct that work begin immediately in appropriate fora of the
Alliance to develop an overall policy framework to consider how
to reinforce ongoing prevention efforts and how to reduce the
proliferation threat and protect against it.

     18.  We attach crucial importance to the full and timely
implementation of existing arms control and disarmament
agreements as well as to achieving further progress on key issues
of arms control and disarmament, such as:

     -    the indefinite and unconditional extension of the
          Treaty on Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, and
          work towards an enhanced verification regime;

     -    the early entry into force of the Convention on
          Chemical Weapons and new measures to strengthen the
          Biological Weapons Convention;

     -    the negotiation of a universal and verifiable
          Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty;

     -    issues on the agenda of the CSCE Forum for Security
          Cooperation;

     -    ensuring the integrity of the CFE Treaty and full
          compliance with all its provisions.

     19.  We condemn all acts of international terrorism.  They
constitute flagrant violations of human dignity and rights and
are a threat to the conduct of normal international relations. 
In accordance with our national legislation, we stress the need
for the most effective cooperation possible to prevent and
suppress this scourge.

     20.  We reaffirm our support for political and economic
reform in Russia and welcome the adoption of a new constitution
and the holding of democratic parliamentary elections by the
people of the Russian Federation.  This is a major step forward
in the establishment of a framework for the development of
durable democratic institutions.  We further welcome the Russian
government's firm commitment to democratic and market reform and
to a reformist foreign policy.  These are important for security
and stability in Europe.  We believe that an independent,
democratic, stable and nuclear-weapons-free Ukraine would
likewise contribute to security and stability.  We will continue
to encourage and support the reform processes in both countries
and to develop cooperation with them, as with other countries in
Central and Eastern Europe.

     21.  The situation in Southern Caucasus continues to be of
special concern.  We condemn the use of force for territorial
gains.  Respect for the territorial integrity, independence and
sovereignty of Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia is essential to
the establishment of peace, stability and cooperation in the
region.  We call upon all states to join international efforts
under the aegis of the United Nations and the CSCE aimed at
solving existing problems.

     22.  We reiterate our conviction that security in Europe is
greatly affected by security in the Mediterranean.  We strongly
welcome the agreements recently concluded in the Middle East
peace process which offer an historic opportunity for a peaceful
and lasting settlement in the area.  This much-awaited
breakthrough has had a positive impact on the overall situation
in the Mediterranean, thus opening the way to consider measures
to promote dialogue, understanding and confidence-building
between the countries in the region.  We direct the Council in
Permanent Session to continue to review the overall situation,
and we encourage all efforts conducive to strengthening regional
stability.

     23.  As members of the Alliance, we deplore the continuing
conflict in the former Yugoslavia.  We continue to believe that
the conflict in Bosnia must be settled at the negotiating table
and not on the battlefield.  Only the parties can bring peace to
the former Yugoslavia.  Only they can agree to lay down their
arms and end the violence which for these many months has only
served to demonstrate that no side can prevail in its pursuit of
military victory.

     24.  We are united in supporting the efforts of the United
Nations and the European Union to secure a negotiated settlement
of the conflict in Bosnia, agreeable to all parties, and we
commend the European Union Action Plan of 22 November 1993 to
secure such a negotiated settlement.  We reaffirm our
determination to contribute to the implementation of a viable
settlement reached in good faith.  We commend the front-line
states for their key role in enforcing sanctions against those
who continue to promote violence and aggression.  We welcome the
cooperation between NATO and the WEU in maintaining sanctions
enforcement in the Adriatic.

     25.  We denounce the violations by the parties of the
agreements they have already signed to implement a ceasefire and
to permit the unimpeded delivery of humanitarian assistance to
the victims of this terrible conflict.  This situation cannot be
tolerated.  We urge all the parties to respect their agreements. 
We are determined to eliminate obstacles to the accomplishment
of the UNPROFOR mandate.  We will continue operations to enforce
the No-Fly Zone over Bosnia.  We call for the full implementation
of the UNSC Resolutions regarding the reinforcement of UNPROFOR. 
We reaffirm our readiness, under the authority of the United
Nations Security Council and in accordance with the Alliance
decisions of 2 and 9 August 1993, to carry out air strikes in
order to prevent the strangulation of Sarajevo, the safe areas
and other threatened areas in Bosnia-Herzegovina.  In this
context, we urge the UNPROFOR authorities to draw up urgently
plans to ensure that the blocked rotation of the UNPROFOR
contingent in Srebrenica can take place and to examine how the
airport at Tuzla can be opened for humanitarian relief purposes.

     26.  The past five years have brought historic opportunities
as well as new uncertainties and instabilities to Europe.  Our
Alliance has moved to adapt itself to the new circumstances, and
today we have taken decisions in key areas.  We have given our
full support to the development of a European Security and
Defence Identity.  We have endorsed the concept of Combined Joint
Task Forces as a means to adapt the Alliance to its future tasks. 
We have opened a new perspective of progressively closer
relationships with the countries of Central and Eastern Europe
and of the former Soviet Union.  In doing all this, we have
renewed our Alliance as a joint endeavour of a North America and
Europe permanently committed to their common and indivisible
security.  The challenges we face are many and serious.  The
decisions we have taken today will better enable us to meet them.