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Updated: 29-May-2002 NATO Speeches

Rome,
Italy
28 May 2002

Statement

by the Secretary General of NATO, Lord Robertson, at the joint press conference with President Putin and Prime Minister Berlusconi following the meeting of the NATO-Russia Council at the level of the Heads of State and Government

Ladies and Gentlemen,

It is impossible to overstate the importance of this first Summit meeting of the NATO-Russia Council.

20 countries as equal partners in a joint mission to make the world safer.

It draws the final curtain on half a century of mutual fear, hostility and mistrust.

It signals that yesterday's foes have become today's firm friends.

It rewards those of us who believe that the future can be better than the past.

Most importantly, it shows that cold warriors can become partners in building a better world.

The Rome Declaration of course has got many godparents. I cannot and will not list them all here today.

But I would like to profoundly thank Prime Minister Berlusconi for his foresight in proposing this Summit meeting and for his and for the Italian people's generosity in arranging it.

I would also like to pay a particular tribute to President Vlamidir Putin for his vision and courage in breaking the bonds of old policies and all politics.

When we spoke together in Moscow at the beginning of this negotiating process last November, the President said to me that if we were successful, we could change the world.

But we have been successful.

And I am confident that this new level of cooperation between NATO's members and Russia will now change the world and for the better.

Our agenda is challenging but we have mechanisms and the political will now to make it happen.

I like finally to remind everybody however of the most important godparents of this new NATO-Russia partnership.

They are the 3,000 victims of the terrorist attacks on the 11th of September last year.

We are here because these attacks changed people's minds and perspectives about the world in which we live, and its risks and its challenges.

Politicians, no matter how visionary, would not have moved so far, so fast without that horrific catalyst.

So our agreement today is therefore a tribute to the victims of terrorism throughout the world.

It is also a stark message from NATO and from Russia to all terrorists and their supporters, that their criminal violence has brought East and West together and has made us stronger.

They cannot win and they assuredly will not win.

But terrorism, of course, is not the only threat to safety in today's world.

In our working lunch today we discussed at some length the current crisis between India and Pakistan.

Today all 20 Presidents and Prime Ministers share a deep common concern about the situation and its risks not just for that region, but for the world.

The Presidents and Prime Ministers strongly urge both sides to de-escalate and to resume talking together as so that their problems can be resolved peacefully.

The 20 leaders will continue to work for this outcome.

President Putin has meetings in the next couple of days with EU-leaders in Moscow and that will be their message as well and President Putin also meets with the leaders of India and Pakistan in Almaty, Kazakhstan, next week.

And the goodwill of the other 19 leaders round the table for that meeting was extended to President Putin with an urging that the two leaders of India and Pakistan recognise their wider obligations to the world and sit down and talk peacefully and constructively about a way forward from this crisis.

All heads of state and government here today are committed and commit themselves to doing whatever is necessary to maintain and build peace in this highly important region in the world.


Ladies and Gentlemen,

In Rome today, you will have seen for yourself the extraordinary new spirit invigorating the NATO-Russia relationship.

The new spirit of NATO-Russia cooperation has turned what was unthinkable into reality.

And the 20 countries in this NATO-Russia Council are now committed to translate this spirit unsure here today into a genuine equal partnership.

And I repeat: a genuine and equal partnership that can indeed change the world for the better.

As the first chairman of the new NATO-Russia Council I commit myself to making this new institution a success and keeping faith therefore with the expectations of those who believe that world leaders have a responsibility constantly to make the world safer and better for them to live in.

Thank you very much.

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