Address
By Mr. Sorin
Frunzaverde
Minister of National Defense of Romania
Dear Secretary Genera!.
Dear Colleagues,
Let me first, join those who welcomed our Croatian colleague. I am confident
that as an EAPC member Croatia will contribute significantly to the further
consolidation of the role of this body in the European security architecture.
The PfP and EAPC programmes have proven their strength in the development
of a cooperative approach to security across the Euro-Atlantic region.
The enhanced operational role of these programmes will add value to conflict
prevention and crisis management and to the Partners' security as well.
It will be all the more so as Partners have ceased to be mere observers,
becoming key actors in the development of the events The Kosovo crisis
is a convincing example in this respect.
The best way to ensure an effective contribution by the EAPC and the
PfP to conflict prevention and crisis management is to use them as vectors
of what I would call "long term investment" in the European
security Indeed, the PfP has been the vehicle which enabled the military
cooperation to develop in areas like defense planning, peace support operations,
humanitarian assistance, civil emergency, and to became a solid ground
for cooperative security at the level of the transatlantic community.
In its turn, the EAPC has proved to be an important forum of consultation
and debate on matters of interest to Euro-Atlantic security. Moreover,
the EAPC plays a special role in encouraging the Partners and Allies to
embark upon concrete and coherent activities in line with the specific
requirements of crisis management. That role is even more important as
crisis management tends to become an increasingly complex process, as
the situation in the Balkans has shown. Indeed, several organizations,
concepts and tools need to come into play in such a process and add to
the regional cooperation, whose potential is still under-valued.
Romania is clearly engaged in the consolidation of the operational role
of the EAPC We therefore support the idea that the EAPC should be the
starting point of more substantive initiatives, in areas like humanitarian
mine action, proliferation of small arms and light weapons, regional security
cooperation in South-Eastern Europe and the Caucasus etc.
A special attention is attached by Romania to the consolidation of security
stability, peace and democracy in South-Eastern Europe. The fact that
Romania has participated and will continue to participate in the SFOR,
has supported and will continue to give an active support to the KFOR,
is a clear proof of its commitment to such an important objective.
Allow me now to make a special reference to the CMXCRISEX "000 and
the operational lessons deriving, therefrom the exercise has shown that
in a real crisis situation with dynamic, fast unfolding events, decisions
need to be taken in a short time. It also demonstrates that a most effective
management of a crisis is precisely preventing it to break up As far as
we are concerned, we will make sure that the lessons learned tram this
exercise are appropriately valued. I have in mind first of all the need
for the three ingredients that ensure a successful management, namely
the information gathering. the decision making and the implementation
process, to be duly taken into account both at the level of theMinistry
of Defense and at the national level.
Mr. Chairman.
Romania takes an active part in the MAP and is determined to achieve
all the objectives provided for in the national programme on the basis
of an appropriate establishment of priorities Under these circumstances,
I would like to highlight the importance and value of the advice, assistance
and practical support that the aspiring countries have benefited and will
continue to benefit from NATO within the MAP framework.
For us the implementation of the Partnership Goals is a top priority
and our participation in the NATO/PfP activities or in activities in the
spirit of PfP is conceived both as a direct support and complement to
this process.
The "Training and Education Enhancement Programme" (TEEP),
acquires a special importance in the current stage of the Enhanced and
More Operational Partnership. Indeed the training and education of the
armed forces of the Partner countries, in general, and of a candidate
countries in particular are essential. The implementation of the TEEP
provisions will certainly allow us to better manage the internal process
of tailoring, developing and conducting of our activities in this area.
Romania will continue to be involved in the implementation of the "Operational
Capabilities Concept" which enables the Partners to better select
the forces and capabilities made available through PARP, while better
directing the national efforts towards the training and education of the
armed forces in line with 'TEEP" requirements. Finally, Mr. Chairman,
Romania is willing and ready to be involved in the implementation of the
relevant elements of the DCI, as required by the increasing participation
of Partner in NATO-led operations. Romania intends inter alia to proceed
to a careful assessment of "Host Nation Support - related capabilities
particularly in terms of logistics, communication, transportation and
stationing etc. Appropriate enabling mechanisms and generic arrangements
are also envisaged in this respect.
To conclude, I would like to point out that all of Romania's efforts
and resources within the PfP in general and the MAP in particular, are
allocated based on the assumption the MAP and the National Annual Programme
for Integration into NATO are to similar extent a vehicle and an intermediate
stage towards Romania's full NATO membership In fact, a recent opinion
poll conducted by the IMAS Institute, well-known across Europe and the
US, shows that 75,5% of the Romanians agree to Romania's integration into
NATO and 59% of them regard it as the best solution for guaranteeing national
security. We are confident that alongside the PfP and EAPC development,
NATO enlargement is a long-term investment to our common benefit as clearly
pointed out in Vilnius Declaration of May 19, 2000
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