Opening of the Euro-Atlantic Partnership Council (EAPC) Sintra, Portugal 30 May 1997

Lead-in Presentation by the Minister for Foreign Affairs of the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Dr. Blagoij Handziski

"Future co-operation with partners in the framework of an enhanced PfP and a Euro-Atlantic Partnership Council" Mr. Secretary General, Distinguished colleagues, Ladies and gentlemen, It is really an honour to have a lead-in presentation together with the US Secretary of State, Mme Albright, in these historic moments, both for the Partners and the Allies, as well as for the new Euro-Atlantic co-operation and relations. Let me also extend our thanks to the Portuguese Government for the excellent organisation of this meeting, which will remain in the history as the meeting, at which the EAPC and the Enhanced PfP, were established. By this historic event, the arrangements with the Russian Federation and Ukraine, as well as by the forthcoming enlargement of NATO, and its internal adaptation, new perspectives are opened for the Euro-Atlantic co-operative community. The new democracies, strongly welcome, the process of NATO enlargement, and the firm commitment of the Alliance to keep its doors open. We, from the south of Europe, as it was pointed out by many member countries of the Alliance, salute the open doors for the enlargement of NATO along the, so called, "southern line", which encompass the broader Mediterranean region. This region has a particular importance and influence on the overall security and stability in Europe. A part of this region is my country, the Republic of Macedonia, a country of a vital importance due to its geo-stragegic location on the main East-West and the North-South cross-roads: Via Egnatia and Via Militaria. Along these roads intersect many of the most dangerous sources of instability and tensions. However, these roads are fully open thanks to the peace and stability in my country, and in some of the neighboring countries, and will remain open if they are maintained. For that purpose we invest great efforts by our constructive internal policy and by the development and improvement of the good neigbourly relations. Particularly important, in this regard, is the improvement of our relations with the Republic of Greece. These kind of positive examples should be valorised concretely. At the PfP exercise, held recently in Macedonia, side by side, co-operating were, without any problems, the American, Italian, Turkish, Greek, Albanian, Macedonian, Bulgarian, Romanian, Slovenian and other troops. This is how the spirit of the Partnership for Peace works even in this turmoiled part of Europe. We can imagine what will the results be of the Enchanced PfP, and the EAPC. In this regard we endorse the NAC yesterday's Communiqu, which highlights the determination for raising, to a qualitatively new level, the political and military co-operation of the Alliance with the Partners. This visionary initiative for co-operation with the new democracies, which was developed through the NACC, proved the realism of the new Strategic concept of the Alliance and was valorised through the great success of the PfP Programme, linking 43 countries. The lessons learned from IFOR/SFOR, the first and the most successful military coalition after the Cold War, have shown which is the way to future cooperation. The basis for this future co-operation we are laying down today through establishing the EAPC and the Enhanced PfP. The goals we wish to achieve together are complementary with the activities of the OSCE, EU, WEU and the Council of Europe. That way we mark the beginning of the joint construction of the new Euro-Atlantic security architecture. We see the EAPC as the new flexible and dynamic framework for co-operation, which further development is of common interest of all its members. We are looking forward to the upgraded co-operation in the new overarching framework for stregthened, more substantive and more frequent political consultations,on a broad range of political and security-related issues, both multilaterally with all of the members, and also, individually. The new quality of the enhanced co-operation in PfP should be achieved through the balance of its political and military dimension: the expanded political consultation and co-operation; more developed operational role of PfP, and greater involvement of Partners in PfP decision making and planning. The Enhanced PfP should enable increased involvement of the Partners in political guidance and oversight for future NATO-led PfP operations - an expended scope of NATO/PfP exercises, which will address the full range of the Alliance's new missions, including Peace Support Operations; Partners' involvement in the planning and execution of PfP activities; their participation in CJTF implementation; expansion of the PARP; extended mutual communication and representation; and Partners' contribution in building up the European Security and Defence Identity. The regional co-operation is an important part of the future enhanced PfP, and the overall EAPC framework. We expect that the co-operation in the framework of the EAPC, will achieve, such a dynamism and quality, that will enable it to become one of the most important pillars of the European Security Architecture. Thank you.