EAPC Meeting in Defense Ministers Session 3 Dec. 1999

Address Given by the Minister of Defence, Republic of Slovenia H.E. Dr. Franci Demsar Mr Chairman, ladies and gentlemen, I would like to start with the statement that I am certain that the Kosovo case represented one of the most important steps made to the definition of NATO's future engagements and the establishment of a European security and defence architecture. To help avert the humanitarian catastrophe in Kosovo Slovenia participated in several ways. I would like to underline only one of them, namely the immediate granting of our air space to NATO for air operations over FRY. During the whole air campaign we acted as an Ally, taking on both the risks and the burdens of the operation. The experience stemming out of our participation in Allied Force is providing us with an incentive towards the development of mechanisms of mutual consultations about the involvement of partner nations in such operations. Such mechanisms should allow, in the appropriate political and military format, closer ties which would result in even more successful carrying out of operations. Secondly, the implementation of tasks which arise from such an obligation is defined for both Alliance and Partner states in two documents: the Operational Capabilities Concept and the Defence Capabilities Initiative. Slovenia, as a candidate for NATO membership, feels especially committed to the implementation of these terms. Let me turn shortly to the implementation of the emerging concepts of the Enhanced and More Operational Partnership after their completion. Saying that, we are immediately faced with resources implications. Since the implementation will largely rely on national defence budgets and manpower allocations, we would welcome further conceptual development of all mentioned initiatives, at least to a stage where we can assess potential resources requirements and planning prerequisites from the national point of view. At this point I would like to mention another issue which seems to me to be an essential element in the success of all of our future endeavours. This is the question of training and the attainment of interoperability. It involves a distinctly "time consuming" process which demands, because of its intricacy and comprehensiveness, among other things, the sharing of the load and roles among individual countries. Therefore, Slovenia is prepared to offer its knowledge and infrastructure towards answering this question. We are offering specific form of training of personnel in the search for and destruction of unexploded ordnance. This is a unique additional element of the work of the International Trust for Demining and Assistance to Mine Victims in Bosnia and Herzegovina, which was established in Slovenia over a year ago. We are in the final phases of setting up a Partnership for Peace Language Training Centre, an institution designed to provide English language training as well as offer professional courses, seminars and workshops for language teachers. Thirdly, the Republic of Slovenia has, in the dialogue thus far concerning the implementation of MAP, gained from the opinions and comments of NATO and NATO member states. Currently we are preparing a second appendix for our MAP. In this way, we will be even better prepared for the next round of NATO expansion. Mr Chairman, Our mutual co-operation in the PfP environment contributes to the security and stability in the Euro-Atlantic area even more than ever before. Thank you for your attention.