NATO HQ Meeting of the Euro-Atlantic Partnership Council 15 Dec. 2000

Intervention by H.E. Mr Indulis Berzinš, 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.