Meeting of the North Atlantic Cooperation Council in Ministerial Session NATO HQ Brussels 11 Dec 1996

Statement by Mr. Jaakko Blomberg, Under Secretary of State, Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland

Cooperation Activities And Ways To Further Strengthen Them It is in the interest of all to build cooperative European security structures which extend throughout the whole of Europe without excluding anyone or creating dividing lines. Finland supports the aims of the enhanced Partnership for Peace as embodied in the communiqué of NATO Ministers, which was adopted yesterday. It provides opportunities to develop closer and deeper cooperation with partner countries who so wish. The operation in Bosnia testifies to the significance of this cooperation. We consider that the NATO initiative to consult the partners on PfP enhancement at an early stage is an important opening, both in principle and in practice, towards further transparency and co-influence in NATO-partner relations. We are pleased to notice that our ideas and those of other partners have been reflected in yesterday's NAC communiqué. May I just highlight some issues, which we find important and which are found in the communiqué: We welcome the opportunity for partner countries to participate in the planning and execution of PfP activities. Access at an early stage facilitates making use of the partners' contribution. We are in favour of increased regional cooperation. We agree with the NAC that the regional dimension can only complement the general PfP functions and should be open to all partners and remain an integral part of the overall programme. For us it would be important to take into consideration the specific needs of the Baltic Sea region. Operational regionalisation should be encouraged, whereas structural or institutional regionalisation can imply developments that we consider to be undesirable. We support the idea of opening NATO's command structures for interested and capable partner countries for crisis management planning purposes. We are prepared to consider assigning military officers to work in staffs at various levels of the NATO command structure. My country is also interested in expanding and developing the Planning and Review Process (PARP). It will further enhance our capabilities for operative crisis management. The opportunity for consultations in the 16+l context is an important provision in the PfP framework document. The intensified dialogue has also proven to be a fruitful form of political consultation. We are pleased to see this reflected in the communiqué of yesterday. The proposed Atlantic Partnership Council could be a dynamic way of streamlining and focusing the NACC/PfP process. The best elements of both NACC and PfP should be retained. Such a forum could be conducive to political strengthening of the Partnership by allowing continuous dialogue and consultation on various security policy issues. Every institution and organisation should have its proper role in strengthening security and stability in the Euro- Atlantic area, as duly stated in yesterday's communiqué.