Secretary General's Opening Statement to NACC
        Ministerial, Brussels, December 2, 1994



Dear Colleagues,

          It is a privilege and pleasure for me to take
the chair of the North Atlantic Cooperation Council for
the first time.  I would like first to extend a warm
welcome to those who are attending the NACC for the
first time.  We look forward to your contributions.

          This Council is one of the most positive
creations of recent years.  It has become an important
instrument for consultation at a time of rapid change on
this continent.  We are in the midst of building the
security structures of a new Europe.  We cannot do so
without a very firm foundation of trust, confidence, and
mutual understanding.  That is exactly what the NACC
stands for and promotes by stimulating debate,
exchanging information, and encouraging practical
cooperation.

          The NACC is a dynamic process of
cooperation.  Since its beginning three years ago, it has
shown a remarkable capacity to adapt and evolve with
the new security challenges.  Today, the NACC continues
to have an ambitious, forward-looking agenda.  And it is
still growing.  The launching of the Partnership for
Peace earlier this year has added a further dynamism to
our cooperation within the framework of this Council.

          The programmes of cooperation now
underway in the framework of the NACC have
intensified.  The programme for 1995 which will be
agreed today fulfils the commitment made at the outset
to move ahead and exploit the new possibilities of
cooperation to the full.  Our work and activities together
have led to improved understanding between us and
been of common benefit. They have assisted in the
process of reform and transition in some of the countries
represented here.

          The result of our cooperation is a new quality
in our security relations.  The Charter of Paris declared
that security is indivisible and that the security of
every participating CSCE state is inseparably linked to
that of all others.  The NACC is acting on that principle
and is a visible reaffirmation of it.

          Today's meeting provides an opportunity to
move ahead in a range of important areas.  The
Partnership for Peace, launched only eleven months ago,
is in the framework  of the NACC and includes nearly all
NACC Cooperation Partners.  I think we have made good
progress to date in giving reality to the Partnership.  We
are already well beyond the start-up stage and into
implementation. We have now held three Partnership
exercises and have gained very useful experience from them
for developing a more extensive and demanding programme
next year.

          The Individual Partnership Programmes now
being implemented indicate how seriously we have taken
our pledge to forge new security relationships through
the Partnership.  We will soon add a planning and
review process for PfP which will allow us to set goals
and review progress for the forces brought to the
Partnership.  This is a forward looking innovation which
will allow us to shape our forces and their capabilities
on the basis of a shared system of planning.  This will be
a genuine two-way street.  The lessons being learnt in
peacekeeping should be shared beyond the individual
countries involved and their military units.  Through PfP
and our Ad Hoc Group in Peacekeeping we can all
benefit from each others' invaluable experience.

          PfP is one part of our contribution to the
evolving security architecture in Europe.  The division of
Europe has ended.  We have worked in the NACC as
well as elsewhere to ensure that it never returns.  

          More, of course, needs to be done before we
realise our hopes of a fully developed European security
architecture, built on cooperation and trust. Within the
NACC we can, through our dialogue, help prepare the
way for the evolution of the European security
architecture in a way that contributes to overall
stability and security.  And that means a continuing
exchange of views on the direction of change.  Yesterday,
the North Atlantic Council decided to initiate a process
of examination inside the Alliance to determine how NATO
will enlarge, the principles to guide this process and the
implications of membership.   Results will be presented
to interested Partners before next year's meeting of
NATO Foreign Ministers in Brussels.  Foreign Ministers
agreed that NATO enlargement should strengthen the
effectiveness of the Alliance, contribute to the stability
of the entire Euro-Atlantic area and support the objective
of maintaining an undivided Europe.

          Let me end these introductory remarks by
underlining the significant role the NACC has played
since its inception as a forum of consultation on the
developing security problems in Europe, including in
particular the situation in the former Yugoslavia.

          This Council has strongly supported the search
for a peaceful solution to the conflict in Bosnia.  In
recent weeks the situation has become more critical and
the continued refusal of the Bosnian Serbs to accept the
Contact Group's peace plan has provoked a further
round of fighting and senseless killing.  The Contact
Group's approach remains the only reasonable way out
of this dreadful dilemma.  I hope today we can further
explore how best to bring our cohesion to bear on
influencing this conflict towards a peaceful and lasting
settlement.

          Ladies and gentlemen, we have a full agenda
and much to discuss.  I look forward to the
deliberations.