Mr. General Secretary,
Colleagues,
Ladies and Gentlemen!
As we end the 20th century and look back to a dynamic past decade,
we see that there are achievements which have united both large and
small nations toward a common goal of peace and security in the North
Atlantic area. For Latvia, greater security and stability has been
achieved with the help of partnership and cooperation not only with
NATO, but also with other international organisations.
Latvia has benefited tremendously from cooperation in our own region.
Being the central country of the three Baltic States, we have attached
particular importance to the various joint projects with Estonia and
Lithuania. Establishing a Baltic battalion, a Joint Air Space Surveillance
Initiative, a Joint Naval Squadron and a Baltic Defence College have
been steps that have had positive repercussions beyond our own borders.
This in turn has made easier our cooperation with the Alliance. It
has given the added impetus to help Latvia accept responsibilities
elsewhere in Europe. Latvian peace keeping troops in Bosnia within
the framework of the Baltic Battalion have contributed to the efforts
of the Alliance, whilst also gaining valuable experience for greater
interoperability. The same applies to the medical experts that were
in AFOR in Albania. And I have no doubt that our combat engineers,
military police unit and staff officers earmarked for Kosovo will
provide practical help whilst at the same time gaining experience
from involvement in an international operation.
However it is not only through cooperation in the Balkans that progress
has been made in the evolving partnership. There was a clear turning
point at the Washington Summit with the launching of the Membership
Action Plan. Even though we were already beginning to focus on our
Defence Structures and spending last year, the requirements of MAP
have added urgency and dynamism to the process. With what results?
We have been able to define more clearly our defence policy and armed
forces development planning programme with four and twelve year development
plans.
One of the lessons we learnt from deployment in the Balkans related
to compatibility with logistics. As a result, our priority next year
will be to introduce a logistics system to ensure NATO compatibility.
The accent is being placed on cost efficiency and auditing measures.
A review and control mechanism has been introduced to monitor our
planning programme for next year.
The political and practical commitments for increased defence spending
have emerged. This year has seen a 35% rise in the defence budget
which will help to improve our defence capabilities.
These are all matters specifically mentioned in our MAP Annual National
Programme. They show that the element of our partnership which involves
the MAP has given very positive results.
The cooperation of NATO and partners has been a success for Latvia,
and has achieved a certain amount of success in the Balkans. However
it is unfortunate that partnership and cooperation, whether in NATO
or other organisations, has not been able to prevent the indiscriminate
loss of life and humanitarian crisis within the territory of our important
partner country and Latvia's neighbour, Russia. For this reason Latvia
fully supports the concerns expressed yesterday by the North Atlantic
Council concerning the events in Chechnya.
Let me close with a further lesson from the Balkans. More Europe
should not mean less America. Latvia strongly supports the maintenance
of the Transatlantic link in the future.
Thank you.
