Statement
by
Philippe Welti
State Secretary of Switzerland
at the Euro-Atlantic Partnership Council
in Defence Ministers session
Mr. Secretary General, Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen,
"Improving Co-operation and Capabilities to address
Terrorism and other Non-Conventional Threats to Security"
is the central topic on our agenda,
The tragic events of 11th September call for unconditional condemnation.
Our societies have to dedicate focussed and well co-ordinated
attention to fight terrorism. EAPC has to take up its share.
Let's concentrate on areas of comparative advantages. We support
the new Chapter "international Fight against Terrorism"
in the EAPC Action Plan 2002-2004 and are looking forward to
the Seminar in Poland to define more clearly the EAPC's role.
We think there is room to debate the question of defining the
limits of military and non-military co-operation.
Terrorism also brought back to our minds the relevance of effective co-operation
in civil emergency planning. EAPC - allowing for a close civil-military
link - has a role to play; we support the idea of including protection
against weapons of mass destruction.
While staying focussed, we should not lose sight of deeper roots of terrorism.
Terrorism grows on certain grounds and under certain conditions; lets
address them based on our common values of democracy, civil rights and
open societies.
Today's security environment in the euro-atlantic area is very
much shaped by unconventional threats. Let me highlight two
points:
- Response to these threats can not only be given by the military
but calls for new links and enhanced co-operation between
all relevant civil and military actors,
- Nevertheless, there remain tasks that have to be addressed
specifically by the military. Their response cannot or can
only be partially derived from traditional preparations to
defend national sovereignty with heavy military material or
from peacekeeping abroad. Unconventional threats require unconventional
answers, also by our ministries of defence. There has to be
creative thinking and planning to give our armed forces a
role adapted to the new circumstances.
We believe that the EAPC offers added value to address these challenges,
it is a unique forum for fostering military co-operation under political
guidance and with strong civilian involvement.
Switzerland is ready to support the reflection processes lying ahead
of us. To this ends we are glad to continue supporting the respective
otters of the Geneva Centres.
Let me turn now to the NATO-led Presence in the Balkans, which has been
critical in contributing to stability and political progress and continues
to be successful. Time is not ripe for disengagement. The Swiss government
will continue to contribute its part by supporting KFOR, which - along
with SFOR - plays a crucial role for stability in the region. After a
referendum last summer, armed Swiss troops are authorized to participate
in peacekeeping operations under a UN or OSCE mandate. Moreover, Swiss
Parliament decided to extend the mandate of the Swiss unit until the end
of 2003 and to augment the contingent. In addition, the unit will be supported
by helicopter transport capacities.
Switzerland is looking forward to the analysis of current Operations
in the Balkans from a theatre-wide perspective. This will complement the
spring KFOR and SFOR reviews and facilitate a newly focussed long-term
military strategy in the Balkans. We acknowledge the common efforts undertaken
by NATO, SHAPE and ail Commanders.
Switzerland is committed to a strong engagement in the area of humanitarian
demining and will continue to support the activities of the Geneva International
Centre for Humanitarian Demining, to co-finance mine clearance projects
in the theatre and to make experienced personnel as well as the necessary
equipment available to particular programmes. For this purpose, army personnel
is being specifically trained for international mine clearance activities.
Furthermore, Switzerland considers offering to the international community
the services of more experts in mine clearance or supervisors, on a permanent
basis. Therefore, the Ministry of Defence is currently studying new centralised
training infrastructures in Switzerland.
EAPC/PfP has started out with the search for interoperability in peace
support operations. We have gone a long way but the Enhanced and more
operational Partnership still has to be pursued vigorously. EMOP will
result, in the years to come, in a substantial increase in the demand
for education and training, Advanced Distributed Learning will help, in
the long term, to save costs, while at the same time multiplying the opportunities
for coordinated or even joint development and use of educational modules
- a precondition to achieve interoperability. Switzerland has actively
participated in the ADL Policy development Ad Hoc Working Group and is
determined to increase its involvement in this field.
Among the various cooperation programmes Switzerland is undertaking with
South-Eastern European countries, I would like to particularly highlight
the VETOXA project in Albania, which has been successfully completed last
September. The mobile plasma furnace was running during 5 months and 20
tons of toxic substances have been destroyed. 1 would like to mention
the good cooperation with the Albanian NBC Protection Regiment, the Albanian
Central Army Chemical Laboratory and the Albanian Army, The NATO-PfP Cell
in Tirana and the Governments of Italy and the United Kingdom joined forces
to support this endeavor. This high-tech project could show the way for
similar operations aiming at eliminating similar ecological threats in
other regions on the continent.
Finally, the PfP stock taking and review process to be undertaken next
year will provide a framework for making recommendations on adapting the
Partnership to the new security environment.
Mr. Secretary General, Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen,
2002 will be a year of substantial changes. NATO will enlarge
and forge a new relationship with the Russian Federation. We
hope that EAPC/PfP will remain a substantial forum for security
co-operation and able to contribute to enhance the relations
between NATO and Non-NATO-members through complementarity between
them. Switzerland is ready to contribute its share.
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