Rome,
Italy
28 May 2002
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Address
by
Václav Havel,
President of the Czech Republic,
at the Inaugural Session of
the NATO-Russia Council
Ladies and gentlemen,
I consider it most auspicious and significant that our meeting
today marks the beginning of a qualitatively new era of cooperation
between NATO and the Russian Federation. May this cooperation
be not merely a formal relationship or a matter of politeness.
but a genuine, practical collaboration focusing precisely on
those specific tasks for which it is useful to seek solutions
jointly and mutually.
I believe that if the present planetary civilization is to
succeed in averting the various major threats looming over it
as a result of its amazing, but somewhat one-sided development,
all the major entities of today's worid must work closely together
äs equal
partners.
Therefore, just as NATO, or the part of the worid encompassed
within NATO, is now deepening its relations with the Russian
Federation, the Alliance should soon begin to deepen its relations
with the other large entities of the contemporary worid as well.
For example, it would be quite unfortunate if the partnership
we have established today created the impression that the more
affluent northern hemisphere is uniting at the expense of the
southern hemisphere. One way or another, the entire planet should
move toward unity. All inhabitants of the Earth desire to live
in peace. freedom and prosperity. Differences between cultures
or spheres of civilization should be interpreted as an impulse
to promote better knowledge of one another, more profound understanding
and greater mutual respect, and not as a reason for enmity or
even as a pretext for confrontation.
Ladies and gentlemen,
The next regular, long-planned NATO meeting, being prepared
by the Czech Republic with great care, will be held in Prague
this coming November. My country's capital city will be visited,
I hope, not only by all of you, but also by many other participants
representing our numerous partner states. It is my firm belief
that this forthcoming summit will not only confirm the new role
of the Alliance in the new millennium, but will also bear witness
to the practical effectiveness of our newly-initiated relationship
with Russia, and also to NATO's commitment to gradually building
and intensifying its relations with all the other parts of the
present-day world.
NATO was originally founded as a response to my country's subjugation
by Stalin. May its Summit Meeting in Prague manifest to the
whole world, once and for all, that the time of subjugation
is over and an era of worldwide cooperation has begun!
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