Reykjavik, Iceland 15 May 2002

Remarks by Mr. Sven-Olof Petersson, Director-General for Political Affairs of the Ministry for Foreign Affairs, Sweden at the Meeting of Foreign Ministers of the Euro-Atlantic Partnership Council Mr. Secretary-General, Excellencies, Since the end of the Cold War, NATO has displayed a remarkable ability to adapt to changing circumstances. The Partnership, both the EAPC and the PFP, has been a vital part of NATO's successful transformation. We want this to be the case also in the future. 11 September further underlined the importance of our relationship. No country or single group of countries can meet the new challenges by themselves. That is why Partnership needs to be a key component when NATO is defining its role after Prague. That is also why we strongly welcome yesterday's tasking by the NAC to prepare concrete proposals for the further development of the EAPC and the PFP. But time is short. Prague should produce decisions to move the Partnership forward substantially. To that effect, we need to start our joint efforts immediately. Let me point to some elements which could guide our efforts: Firstly, developments in NATO must increasingly go hand in hand with activities in the Partnership. The threat of terrorism requires a broad response, including not only military elements but also civil emergency planning, disaster relief, civil-military cooperation, and maybe also cooperation on protection of critical infrastructure. These are all areas where work can and should be done in partnership. Secondly, to take on new challenges the Partnership has to become more operational. Contributions by Partners should be matched by decision-making opportunities. That is the essence of true Partnership. To explore this issue, we do not need to look much further than the EAPC Basic Document adopted at Sintra five years ago for guidance. Thirdly, the needs as well as the contributions of different Partners do vary considerably.The forms of cooperation will have to take this into account. One way of addressing this could be to increasingly tailor solutions to groups of Partners, using the 19 +n formula envisaged in the Sintra Document. This, of course, will have to be balanced against the need for transparency and inclusiveness. Fourthly, the emerging relationship between NATO and the European Union must be taken into account. We should think about how this relationship affects the Partnership. Finally, the new NATO/Russia relationship is another proof of NATO's ability to seize opportunities for positive change as they arise. The NATO/Russia relationship could perhaps give us further inspiration in our efforts to renew the Partnership. We have made significant progress during the five years since Sintra. When we look back again five years from now, we should be able to say that we have made further substantial progress in Partnership. Thank you.