Address
by the Minister
of Foreign Affairs
of the Republic of Slovenia, H.E. Dr Dimitrij Rupel
Secretary General, dear colleagues, ladies and gentlemen,
it is a pleasure for me to join you today for this Euro-Atlantic Partnership
Council in the Foreign Ministers session.
To begin with, I would like to reassure you that the membership in the
Alliance continues to be at the top of the agenda of Prime Minister Dr.
Drnovšek's newly elected government in Slovenia.
In this respect we welcome the recent resolution of the NATO Parliamentary
Assembly calling upon the North Atlantic Council to issue invitations
for NATO accession negotiations to qualified aspirants at the next NATO
summit. You may rest assured that Slovenia will do its utmost to remain
at the top of the list of the qualified aspirants.
A clear evidence of our credibility as a future NATO member country,
is the Slovenian second Annual National Programme for the implementation
of the Membership Action Plan, which was successfully discussed with the
Allies in October. Given the fact that we are expecting a steady and continuing
economic growth, we are even more confident that we can follow our programme
and commitments.
Especially through its role of an active player, contributor and promoter
of security, stability, peace and democracy in South - East Europe Slovenia
has demonstrated that it is willing and able to assume the responsibilities
and obligations of the membership.
Secretary General, we firmly believe that the beginning of the democratization
process in the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia has enabled all countries
in the region to return to a path of peace and regional and bilateral
cooperation.
The modern understanding of security is indisputably affiliated with
the concept of the regional cooperation. This is why the regional policy
has to be the vital element of the security policy of any state. Security
is not the sole responsibility of single states, assured by their military
power. Security is a collective responsibility. And in such circumstances
the importance of regional dimension of security policy of each state
becomes crucial and the actual geopolitical position of the states gains
in importance. Slovenia's geopolitical position is significantly determining
its security policy.
Slovenia has actively participated in the process of stabilization and
normalization of relations in the region. As a stable democracy and a
successful economy, Slovenia contributes to the stability of the region
and plays an active part in numerous regional initiatives such as the
Stability Pact, the Quadrilateral, the Central European Initiative, the
Adriatic-Ionian Initiative and NATO's South - East European Initiative.
As an active outward oriented country Slovenia is participating in numerous
projects of the Stability Pact in the field of democratization and human
rights, economic reconstruction and development and demining. Slovenia
is also one of the largest investors in the region, especially in Bosnia
and Herzegovina and Macedonia, where we have contributed to the creation
of several thousands jobs. It is necessary to stress that membership in
Partnership for Peace is an important guaranty for the security of the
region. We contribute our forces to the KFOR - with 6 officers, the SFOR
- with a helicopter unit, a military police platoon and a medical unit,
and to UNMIK with 15 police officers. Slovenia has a great opportunity
to share its knowledge, experience and cooperation in all these areas
and is more than ready to do this also in the framework of the Partnership
for Peace.
It has always been in the interest of Slovenia that the area of stability
be expanded as far as possible towards the south - east. That is why we
are convinced that the regional cooperation plays a crucial role for the
security environment of South - East Europe. Slovenia therefore devotes
great attention to the relations with the neighboring countries and is
actively participating in efforts undertaken by the international community
to ensure security and promote confidence in the region.
Last Saturday Slovenia established diplomatic relations with the FRY,
which will improve (reestablish) cooperation between the states.
May I use this opportunity to propose the re-activation of the Consultative
Forum on South East Europe launched at the Washington Summit and invite
the FRY to participate. We believe it is an appropriate vehicle to start
security consultations with this new state.
I would like to close by underlining the great importance of the EAPC.
This forum contributes substantially to the stability and security in
the region. The EAPC is also understood as one of the conflict prevention
tools, being a framework for dialogue and consultation, thereby enhancing
transparency and building confidence. It is also a flexible tool as we
have already had meetings in SFOR/KFOR and PARP format. I believe that
this flexibility will also allow us to meet, when necessary, perhaps in
a 19 + 9 format, when themes, such as the enlargement, could be discussed
by the most interested parties.
You will remember that we have already proposed to host an EAPC Ministerial
meeting in Slovenia. We have also extended an invitation to the North
Atlantic Council to visit Slovenia. In this vein, may I use this opportunity
to express Slovenia's interest to host the/a major conference planned
for 2001 to celebrate the 10th anniversary of NACC/EAPC. I believe it
would be of great importance that such a conference is held in a Partner
and an active aspirant country.
Thank you.
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