SHAPE Staff
Mons
18 Jan 1996
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NATO Secretary Generals Remarks
I am honoured to have the opportunity to make my
first visit as Secretary General to SHAPE, and especially to meet
with all of you. My goal is to establish with you a close working
relationship in the months and years ahead. Of course, I have
already been fortunate to establish such a close relationship with
SACEUR. But I believe that it is important for the political and
military authorities of this Alliance to work together at all levels.
This is especially important here at SHAPE which is, after all,
the place where so many of the political decisions made in
Brussels are put into practice. As of lately, I am sure you would
agree with me that there has been no shortage of such decisions.
Indeed, I am particularly aware that NATOs
involvement in the international efforts to bring peace to Bosnia
has put extraordinarily heavy demands on SHAPE and its staff.
This has been the case for three years already, but the creation
and deployment of IFOR have heightened these demands still
further. And you are also implementing an ever-expanding
Partnership for Peace programme, developing the CJTF concept,
and, last but not least, planning and organising the Alliance's
core function of collective defence.
I wish I could promise you relief, but I am afraid
that your workload is only likely to grow heavier in the months
ahead. However, I have not the slightest doubt that you will
master all the tasks and challenges with your well-known
professionalism. Having just returned from a visit with
SACEUR to Bosnia, I can say without hesitation that IFOR is
not only a success, but it is also a resounding confirmation of
NATOs unique military structures and planning capacity. These
structures have demonstrated the remarkable flexibility of our
organisation to take on new crisis management missions with the
end of the Cold War. Without the decades of cooperation and
coordination and the firmly ingrained habits of operating under
a single command, here at SHAPE, an operation of the
complexity and magnitude of IFOR would have been
inconceivable.
And so, ladies and gentlemen, I would like to salute
you, both for the great work you have done and the great work
I know you will continue to do. Thanks to your dedicated
efforts, Partnership for Peace has already become the most
successful and far-reaching military cooperation programme ever
conceived. In the weeks and months to come, you will have to
continue developing PfP and help prepare for the enlargement
of this Alliance, as well as contribute to the ongoing
transformation of its structures and procedures. I am counting
on your efforts, and I know you are up to the job. As SACEUR
likes to say, we are truly one team and one mission - and I am
very proud to have become a member of your team.
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