Opening
Remarks
by NATO
Secretary General Lord Robertson
at the EAPC Foreign Ministers Meeting
Ministers, Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen,
Welcome to this meeting of the Foreign Ministers of the Euro-Atlantic
Partnership Council.
Let me first of all extend a warm welcome to the Foreign Minister of
Croatia, who is taking his place in our Council as our newest member.
The EAPC has become a firm foundation of trust, confidence and mutual
understanding in an undivided Europe. Its agenda has constantly broadened,
reflecting the new security challenges but also the growing ties and close
cooperation among its members. I believe that this forum, together with
the Partnership for Peace, has played an important part in beginning to
change the face of Europe.
Lors de la crise du Kosovo, notre Conseil a prouvé son utilité.
Le soutien apporté par nos Partenaires à l'action de l'OTAN
a été extraordinaire. Il témoigne de l'émergence
d'une culture de sécurité commune - une culture caractérisée
par l'engagement en faveur de la paix et de la dignité de la personne
humaine. Et aujourd'hui, les pays membres de l'OTAN et plus de vingt Partenaires
sont présents ensemble sur le terrain au Kosovo et en Bosnie, où
ils travaillent pour un avenir meilleur.
Today's meeting will build on this success. We will examine how we can
further increase the contribution of our Partnership to security, including
conflict prevention and crisis management. We will exchange views on the
situation in and around Kosovo and Bosnia-Herzegovina. And we will examine
how to use EAPC and PfP to build long-term security, stability and regional
co-operation in South-Eastern Europe, as well as in the Caucasus and Central
Asia.
This full agenda highlights the increasing operational dimension of the
EAPC and the Partnership for Peace -- a dimension that will be underlined
further by the presence of the Special Co-ordinator of the Stability Pact
for South-Eastern Europe, Mr. Bodo Hombach, who will address the EAPC
this morning.
Last year, the Kosovo conflict reminded us that the values we seek to
promote are not yet shared among all regions of our continent. But the
conflict was an exception, not the rule. On balance, Europe is doing much
better than many predicted only ten years ago. Europe is doing well because
most nations have understood that their future can only be a common one
based on shared values. And Europe is also doing well because we have
the right mechanisms of Partnership and Co-operation -- mechanisms such
as the EAPC, that can advance the values on which our continent must be
built.
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