Good afternoon,
Well, as you know, these Committee meetings at Chiefs of Staff level take place at least three times a year. This was one of the traditional ones, that comes before the end of the year ministerials, and we normally concentrate on a number of important military issues for the Alliance. This is not only the Military Committee in Chiefs of Staff session, but we also convene a meeting with our partner nations, under the Euro-Atlantic Partnership Military Committee, and a meeting with the Ukraine. A meeting with the PJC, which is the Permanent Joint Council with Russia at Chiefs of Staff level was also scheduled, but this did not take place.
The issues on the agenda were mainly the operations in the Balkans, more specifically Kosovo, which is of course the more recent and most challenging one. We did not of course limit ourselves to updates and exchange of views from those operations, but also went on to discuss a number of issues which stem from the Washington Summit - the follow-on actions. First of all the drafting, which is at an advanced stage, of the military directives coming from the New Strategic Concept; a document which goes under the name of MC 400. The revision will be MC 400/2. This revision is about to be completed. From this revision will also derive a number of other documents and provisions. The most important will be the Force Structure Review. You probably are aware that this year we are implementing a new command structure, and now we have to review also the force structure and this will be when the drafting of the MC 400/2 has reached a mature state.
Also discussed was the CJTF [Combined Joint Task Force] concept, and other issues like ESDI [European Defence and Security Identity] and the Enhanced PfP [Partnership for Peace], but most of all the DCI [the Defence Capabilities Initiative], which was one of the main topics at the Toronto Ministerial and which will continue to be one of the topics at the next ministerial. All those issues were updated and the basis of exchange of views which were very useful.
The meeting with the Ukraine took stock of the very good relations we enjoy with the Ukraine, despite the fact that the Kosovo crisis created some problems. Cooperation continues to be very good, and this was openly recognised by both sides. As you know, the Ukraines are participating with some of their units, both in the SFOR operations in Bosnia-Herzegovina and in the KFOR operations in Kosovo.
The Euro-Atlantic Partnership Committee meeting which also took place this morning was also very interesting. There was a full participation of all Chiefs of Staff of the partner nations. Almost all of them were here. This of course was a good occasion to take stock of the progress of the Partnership for Peace programme which it is making on all fronts. This is a very important theme, which underlines the engagement of NATO to the new adaptation, not only internal, but also external, to the new challenges with the aim of improving stability, understanding and confidence- building throughout the Euro-Atlantic area. The outcome of the meeting was widely acknowledged as being very productive. This is I think a good indication that NATO has resumed its pace after - I wouldn't say interruptions - certainly, a number of issues were slowed down by the emergency operations that we had to conduct during last spring and the summer. Now these issues have all resumed their full task state, as required by the political directives, and as a follow-on to the Washington Summit.
This resumes more or less the content of the meetings, I shall be glad to answer your questions.
