NATO HQ
Meeting of the
Euro-Atlantic
Partnership
Council
15 Dec. 2000
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Intervention
by H.E.
Mr Indulis Berzin,
Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Latvia
Dear Colleagues, Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen,
First of all, I would like to thank Dr. Petritsch for his valuable briefing
on the situation in and around Bosnia-Herzegovina. The importance of regional
cooperation in strengthening peace and stability in Europe was clearly
illustrated by his presentation.
In the Baltic region we have seen the value of regional cooperation for
at least the past decade. Numerous bilateral, trilateral and multilateral
initiatives contribute to Baltic regional stability. They involve many
of the countries engaged in the Balkans - other NATO aspirant countries,
members of the Alliance, non-aligned countries and also Russia.
The cornerstone is the close practical cooperation between our immediate
neighbors, Estonia and Lithuania. Since 1994 we have developed a joint
peace keeping battalion, BALTBAT, whose headquarters are just outside
Riga. We have a common education and training establishment for all three
Baltic States, the Baltic Defense College (BALTDEFCOL) based in Estonia.
It provides a new generation of officers and defense specialists and the
opening ceremony took place in your presence, Secretary General, though
at that time in a different capacity. We have a common Baltic air surveillance
system (BALTNET) and a common naval squadron (BALTRON). Work is in progress
to prepare common procurement programs and the joint training of non-commissioned
officers. This cooperation is based on common values and common goals
in foreign and security policy.
The value added element of Baltic States' cooperation strengthens our
progress in the Membership Action Plan process. Within the MAP, however,
the cooperation is broader and encompasses more areas. In this process,
the advice and feedback from the allies is essential. Latvia sees MAP
as a tool of the utmost importance for the preparation for membership
in the Alliance. We trust that it will not be used as an instrument to
slow down enlargement.
We acknowledge the importance of the implementation of plans submitted
under the MAP process. To underline the importance of implementation and
the enhance in capabilities, Latvia's defense budget has increased steadily
and we have a political consensus to raise defense spending to 2% of GDP.
Increasing cooperation amongst European countries should also be a tool
to provide for eventual European-led crisis management and peacekeeping
without the direct involvement of NATO. Latvia will contribute to the
increase in European capabilities. But this should on no account take
place at the expense of the Transatlantic link which, as ongoing NATO
operations in Kosovo and Bosnia-Herzegovina show, fully maintains its
crucial importance in today's world. Latvia sees itself as a true European
partner and a trustful Atlanticist at the same time, and therefore we
are ready to promote and strengthen cooperation in both directions.
Good relations with all our neighbors, including Russia, have always
been a consistent policy of Latvia. We are committed to build on recent
lively exchanges on governmental, parliamentarian and NGOs levels. In
parallel we are focusing our efforts on developing practical cross-border
and regional cooperation projects. We expect our neighbors to appreciate
benefits of cooperative approach.
In closing, I would also like to inform you about the latest cooperation
among the Vilnius Nine - or V9 as we are now called - NATO applicant countries.
We held a meeting of Foreign Ministers this morning to review our cooperation
activities and discuss those for next year. We have agreed a joint statement
in support of NATO enlargement. We reaffirmed the commitment of our countries
to the completion of Europe whole and free and our determination to join
the Alliance at the next summit in 2002. We support the objective of NATO
and EU to stabilize the South Eastern Europe and are ready to contribute
to this process. We highly value the fact that Secretary Albright and
the ministers of Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland were able to join
the meeting. We are pleased with their support to our cooperation.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
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