EAPC Defence Ministerial Meeting Brussels, 12 June 1998

Declaration of State Secretary Anton Thalmann Federal Department of Defence, Civil Protection and Sports Mr. Chairman, Exchange of information, sharing experience and co-operation in training and education are important to act together successfully. The US/German initiative to establish a consortium of defence academies and security studies institutes is an excellent means to pursue this purpose. Switzerland supports it and will contribute to its success. My country is glad to offer the "International Security Forum" Conference as a launching platform for the consortium. This conference, which will be held in Zurich next October, combines different efforts in similar areas. Since the division of Europe was overcome, Switzerland has launched a series of initiatives to help eliminate invisible dividing lines on our continent. Many of those initiatives are fo-cused on a better exchange of information and better co-ordination of different efforts. Let me remind you of only a few of them: The Geneva Centre for Security Policy offers a variety of training programmes for military officers and diplomats. 16 EAPC Nations participate in the board and almost all of them participated in Centre activities. The International Security Network, operated by the Centre for Security Policy and Conflict Research of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, is an electronic clearinghouse on Internet to promote the free flow of information on international relations and security policy. It is linked to a special program providing institutions in partner states access to elec-tronic means of communication. Finally, the so-called Clusters of Competence are designed to pool and disseminate expertise in areas like arms control, humanitarian law, preventive diplomacy or wartorn societies. Thereby better use can be made of already existing knowledge. Monsieur le Prsident, Nous vivons une poque de profondes mutations. A l'aube du prochain millnaire, nous savons que l'information et la communication sont les fondements des socits et des relations internationales de l'avenir. Cependant nous sommes loin d'utiliser pleinement les possibilits existantes. Nous devons et nous pouvons faire mieux. La formation et l'instruction, mais aussi la comprhension mutuelle pourraient s'en trouver fortement enrichies. Ces efforts ne sont pas un but en soi. Ils sont des instruments permettant de donner une rponse commune aux dfis tels que ceux auxquels nous faisons face en Bosnie, au Kosovo, ou dans le domaine de la prolifration des armes de destruction massive. Monsieur le Prsident, La situation actuelle au Kosovo nest pas acceptable pour mon gouvernement, d'autant plus qu'elle s'est encore dgrade depuis la runion des Ministres des Affaires trangres Luxembourg le 29 mai 1998. Elle met en pril la stabilit de toute la rgion. Nous faisons appel aux responsables pour prendre les mesures ncessaires afin darriver une solution politique. Avec les dcisions prises hier par les ministres de dfense, l'OTAN montre sa volont dempcher une dtrioration de la situation au Kosovo. Un rle important est confi au Partenariat pour la paix. La Suisse salue les dcisions prises et continue son engagement dans le programme de soutien la restructuration des forces de scurit albanaises.