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Updated: 13-May-2002 Speeches

At the EAPC
Foreign
Ministers
Meeting
Brussels
16 Dec. 1999

Presentation

by Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Slovak Republic
H.E. Mr. Eduard Kukan

Dear Mr. Secretary General, Dear Colleagues,

It is a great pleasure and honor for me to have the possibility to open our today´s EAPC Ministerial Meeting as the Président d´ Honneur. In the name of whole EAPC I would like to use this opportunity and warmly welcome Ireland as the forty-fifth member of the EAPC cooperation framework. I am convinced that Ireland, which is well known for its active foreign policy and particularly for its share in peace operations, will be a significant contributor to the fulfillment of our cooperation goals.

The co-operation between NATO and countries of Central and Eastern Europe has achieved an important progress over last ten years. The development of European security environment in post Cold War era was marked by confidence building and strengthening of co-operation ties between old adversaries that became today´s partners. The particular place in this belongs to the EAPC and PfP. Both frameworks have been and remain important tools in the enhancement of European political and military co-operation. I am convinced that without both platforms it would not have been possible to start the NATO enlargement process and the solution of security problems and defending of democratic values would have been much more difficult.

When addressing key questions of our today´s discussion - whether we have made use of all existing capacities in deepening the cooperation and how we are prepared for future challenges - I would like to highlight two basic aspects.

First, NATO has comprised the partnership to be its another basic function by which the Alliance responds to the political changes after the end of the Cold War. From my point of view this decision has been an inevitable answer to the significant contribution of partners to the cooperation. Thanks the partnership which has been proven by concrete events in Bosnia and Herzegovina and especially in Kosovo the Alliance has added to its core function - the organization of collective defence role - the role of an active "projector" of peace and stability.

Secondly, the PfP has got important impulses aimed at its strengthening this year. Right in the middle of the Kosovo crises the Alliance and partners embarked the concept of Enhanced and More Operational Partnership. Kosovo has clearly showed that our common vision of real and capable partnership does not end only with declarations but furthermore, we are able to underpin respective mechanisms. Of course, there have been existing reserves we all know about. I consider the NATO and partners willingness to cooperate and to be capable of taking actions as substantial.

Nevertheless, Kosovo remains a challenge. Recently, I visited Pristina and held talks with representatives of United Nations Administration (UNMIK) and local Albanian and Serb leaders. I have to say that the situation in Kosovo remains very difficult. The KFOR presence is central to any possible steps of international community, particularly NATO countries, towards Kosovo. UNMIK is doing its utmost despite limited resources. Good progress has been made in rebuilding Kosovo, but political progress is less encouraging.

What I see as an immediate priority is the necessity to enhance the safety environment in Kosovo. Neither UN Police (UNCIVPOL) in its present numbers nor KFOR can sufficiently guarantee the safety of the population. The fate of Kosovo Serbs remains extremely precarious and shows the limits of KFOR protection. In this respect, it is essential to strengthen the UN Police Force. At present, 1800 police officers are deployed. The requested increase up to 6000 police officers was not met and only 4,718 has been authorized by the UN Security Council. Not even this number has been achieved yet. Unless we guarantee sufficient safety environment, we will not be able to rebuild Kosovo as a place of multiethnic co-existence of Albanians, Serbs, Moslims and other ethnic groups.

Another important point is general and local elections. OSCE is aware of all challenges connected with preparation of elections. It is clear that elections will be very important, if not a turning, point in the future development of Kosovo. Therefore, they must be well prepared and organized. Given the present state of affairs, the elections could be held in the autumn 2000, which itself is a very ambitious goal.

The success of international community in Kosovo will be measured by time and conditions in which it will be possible to withdraw from the province. In this respect I see a big role of NATO in cooperation with partners to keep necessary military presence in Kosovo. It is obvious that the reconciliation and society building will be a long time process, but we have to pursue objectives set forth in the UN Security Council Resolution No. 1244.


Mr. Secretary General, Dear Colleagues,

We all have welcomed the decisions taken by the Heads of States and Governments at their Summit Meeting in Washington which represents a landmark in the history of NATO. The Slovak Republic highly appreciated especially the reconfirmation of the NATO open door policy.

The Slovak Government is fully aware of the decisive importance of the irreversibility of political stability in the country for its integration ambitions. However, it is important to emphasize that as the internal political stability leads to the acceleration of our integration, the successful integration into the Euro-Atlantic structures will further enhance the political stability and democracy in Slovakia as well.

The Slovak Republic has already proved at various occasions that both its capacity to contribute to the security and stability in Europe as well as its ability to act in accordance with goals and principles of NATO are growing. Let me mention that we supported the preparation of the IFOR mission and contributed to SFOR in Bosnia - Herzegovina, took an active part in AFOR, and participated in UNPROFOR and UNCRO. During the Kosovo crisis Slovakia fully supported the NATO air campaign against FRY. At present our engineering unit is an active part of KFOR.

Starting MAP process has been a very important step in the course of preparation of the candidate countries for their future membership roles. The Slovak Republic uses its MAP as a tool for improvement of its political, defence, economic, and legal structures and regulations in order to accommodate them to NATO standards as closely and as soon as possible. Following the Washington Summit we have created an internal framework and an effective control and coordination mechanism for complex improvement of the Slovak Republic preparation process.

Implementation of MAP and its close link and relationship with the Enhanced and More Operational Partnership, including Training and Education Enhancement Programme, Operational Capabilities Concept, and Defence Capabilities Initiative create a mechanism for our complex preparation for NATO membership. In this regard we highly appreciate the work done by NATO International Staff and International Military Staff.

Slovakia is prepared to work with other aspirant countries. Our aim is to use and build on experiences of others especially on the three new NATO members. Although MAP does not represent a direct and automatic way into NATO for any aspiring country - that will be a political decision - we are convinced that our progress in preparation will be the decisive impetus for necessary political resolution in our favor.


Thank you for your attention.

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