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Updated: 03-Jul-2002 NATO Speeches

Rome,
Italy
28 May 2002

Statement

by Gerhard Schröder,
Federal Chancellor of Germany

Secretary General,
President Putin,
Ladies and Gentlemen,

I would like to thank Prime Minister Berlusconi for his invitation and hospitality and for his excellent preparation and organization of this summit.

We are celebrating a historic event today. With the signing of the Declaration of Rome, relations between NATO and Russia will reach a whole new level.

Russia is being included as an equal partner in the work of the North Atlantic Alliance on a number of important issues.

The antagonism between East and West in Europe will thus finally be a thing of the past.

The confrontation between the blocks has been overcome once and for all. We are ushering in a new era of trust and cooperation.

With the signing of the Founding Act almost exactly five years ago, NATO and the Russian Federation drew the necessary conclusions from the dramatic transformation of the strategic environment after the disappearance of the Iron Curtain and the end of the East-West confrontation.

The Founding Act will remain the bedrock of our relations.

In the Founding Act, NATO and Russia committed themselves for the first time to cooperation in order to contribute to common and comprehensive security in Europe on the basis of shared values, obligations and rules of conduct.

Cooperation in the previous forum, the Permanent Joint Council, was the first step.

Initially it was a matter of moving from confrontation to systematic cooperation. Even if not all expectations have been fulfilled, we have become much closer in the last five years.

Today we are going one step further and opening a new chapter in relations between NATO and Russia.

With his forward-looking and resolute policy following the terrorist attacks of 11 September, President Putin created the crucial prerequisite for this to happen.

In relations with NATO, he was keen to overcome ingrained mistrust and to jointly tackle international problems, such as terrorism.

In the new NATO-Russia Council which now has to start operating quickly, Russia will work as an equal partner preparing Alliance decisions and bear joint responsibility with the NATO countries for their implementation.

The work of the new forum will focus on areas which are of particular importance for guaranteeing security and stability.

Let me just mention here the analysis of terrorist threats, strengthening arms control and confidence-building measures on nuclear weapons and protection from weapons of mass destruction.

The first results are expected in time for the NATO summit in Prague in November this year.

I would be delighted if we, President Putin, could then take stock of developments together.

We have to be aware that the NATO-Russia Council can only be successful if all participants cooperate constructively on the basis of trust.

We have shared interests. In day-to-day cooperation, our governments ought to be guided by these shared interests.

To this end, I wish President Putin both good fortune and success as he continues to pursue his policy of opening up his country and hope we can all maintain the spirit of cooperation that inspires us today.

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