Madrid, Spain 3 June 2003 .MP3/5646Kb

Statement at the Press Conference by NATO Secretary General, Lord Robertson following the North Atlantic Council at the Level of Foreign Ministers Good afternoon Ladies and Gentlemen, Six months ago, the Alliance was transformed at our watershed Summit held in Prague. We adopted a new blueprint there for a new NATO for the 21st century. Since Prague, the Alliance has been tested and challenged. We have been tested by genuinely held differences over Iraq and the need to reinforce Turkey in difficult political circumstances. We have been challenged by a demanding agenda to implement the Prague transformation. We have been challenged to make our new strategic relationship with the European Union work in practice, and challenged to meet threats and build security well beyond our traditional boundaries. Today, the Foreign Ministers of the Alliance took stock of how the Alliance has dealt with this demanding period of change and the conclusion was that NATO is bouncing back. NATO has weathered its storms in remarkably good shape. It met its commitments to Turkey. We have made great progress in implementing the Prague transformation, when we have broken major new ground, with the European Union in the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia 1; with last month’s decision to take the leading role in the International Security Assistance Force in Kabul in Afghanistan; and with yesterday’s momentous decision to support the Polish role in the stabilisation of Iraq. All three decisions would have appeared inconceivable even six months ago and they demonstrate a deep practical consensus on the future of the transatlantic relationship, based very much on the vision that was set out at Prague. The Ministers today also reinforced the enduring truth that NATO combines resilience, flexibility and an ability to deliver unlike any other international organisation. Nato is today’s decisive organisation. These points were repeated through a thorough discussion of the Alliance’s future in the wake of Prague, and a review of progress on the implementation of such critical transformation measures as the NATO Response Force and the Capabilities promises that were made by Heads of States and government in the capital of the Czech Republic. We also highlighted today the priority accorded to NATO’s contribution to the continuing fight against terrorism, and with the Foreign Ministers of the seven invited countries, we considered the Alliance’s strategic relationships. NATO is at the centre of a historically unprecedented web of partnerships, all forging peace and stability in the Euro-Atlantic area. Later today and tomorrow, we will demonstrate the vitality of these partnerships and the importance of them when we meet in various other forms to continue the work of Foreign Ministers. Today, I am pleased and proud to confirm that the revitalized and reunited NATO of the 21st Century is taking shape – quickly and convincingly. Prague stamped change onto the Alliance. Since then, our determination to achieve results together has never flinched – even when the hottest of tensions over Iraq were running highest. NATO delivers, even in the toughest circumstances, and this is the true and lasting value of the Alliance, and that is is why it cannot be replaced. Thank you. Questions and answers Q: Good afternoon, Mr. Secretary General. Reuters. As you know, the EU wants to take over the Bosnian peacekeeping force next year, but the Americans are saying that it's too early to even start talking about it. Is that the widely-held view within the Alliance? How do you see this playing itself out? Lord Robertson: The issue of the stabilization force at Bosnia is constantly reviewed by NATO and we have our... what's call our periodic mission review on at the present moment where we look at the forces, and the role of forces, inside Bosnia-Herzegovina. That is ongoing. But the Alliance has not yet had time to discuss the long-term future of our operation in Bosnia-Herzegovina and will not have until we've got that full mission report completed. As you know, and as I've just said, we've taken momentous decisions in relation to Afghanistan and yesterday in relation to Iraq. So it's not as though the agenda is empty at the present moment. But the offer by the European Union has already been recorded and will be considered, and given that we have handed over our mission in Macedonia to the European Union, then it's obviously the kind of business that NATO would expect to be discussing in the very near future. Q: Mr. Secretary General, Al Goodman, CNN. In your transformed NATO, sir, how ready right now is NATO ready to fight terrorism in these non-conventional types of threats that are facing so many countries? You've spoken about so many changes, but is NATO ready right this moment to fight these kinds of threats? Lord Robertson: Well NATO has an ongoing transformation process, but NATO is always ready to deal with threats against the member states of NATO. And that is why we're taking on these new obligations, these new responsibilities and these new missions. Now clearly we need to acquire new capabilities, and that is now in train. And a meeting of deputy defence ministers in Brussels last week showed that we're making good progress in delivering on the promises that were made at Prague. We're still involved in reshaping and modernizing the command structure of NATO, but we are within a very small margin of getting a complete agreement on the biggest refashioning of our command structure ever in the briefest possible time. And when the defence ministers of NATO meet next week there's no reason to expect that we won't have completed that. And I am told by my military advisors that the NATO Response Force, the key element in how we deal with these asymmetric threats in the future will be up and running even before the projections that had previously been put forward. But we've still got the capabilities just now, as we've shown, to be able to deal with threats. And the message has got to be to those who would use violence for political ends, and for the terrorists who would deliver violence over vast distances, that we are ready. We are preparing to be better, but NATO at the present moment is still the most successful military alliance that the planet has ever seen and against the common threat of terrorism we stand ready and prepared to deal with it. Q: Laurent (inaudible), Le Monde. We have been told this morning, Lord Robertson, that it would have been impolite for the foreign ministers to talk about the next Secretary General of NATO, but what are your views? And for instance, do you think it'll be a good idea for NATO to have a woman as the next Secretary General? Lord Robertson: What an interesting question. How sad I can't give you an interesting answer. This is a matter for the nation states of NATO and not for the present incumbent of the job. All I can say to you is there are a range of candidates, and their attributes are being examined by ministers over these two days and no doubt in capitals as well. And I have absolutely no doubt that we will find, and they will find a Secretary General well able to take over my position at the present moment and keep the momentum of change going in the Alliance for the future. So yes, there will be candidates who are both men and women, north and south, from a variety of different countries, but they should not be selected on that basis. They should be selected on the basis of merit alone and their ability to lead the Alliance through what will be even more challenging times than the years that I've looked after. Q: Alejandro Luna(?) from the Spanish National Radio. Mr. Secretary General, would a NATO-led ISAF extend its control in Afghanistan to other regions apart from the Kabul area? Lord Robertson: No, that is not on the table at the moment. NATO will take responsibility for the existing United Nations mandate, which is confined to Kabul, the capital. There are, of course, also NATO forces involved in what's known as the Provincial Reconstruction Teams, which are being formed outside of Kabul in the various regions, but they come under a different banner of Operation Enduring Freedom. So we have nothing at the moment on the table, other than the very challenging and demanding job of taking over the existing UN mandate of the International Security Assistance Force in Kabul. Q: Carlos Segovia, El Mundo. Lord Robertson, do you think the most likely role for NATO in the future can be to replace coalition forces in the world, as we can see in Afghanistan or in Iraq? And second question, what do you think about this decision of the Spanish government to suspend their contracts with NAMSA? Lord Robertson: Well you may have to repeat the first question because I didn't really hear it. In relation to the second, NAMSA is a NATO agency which acts as a contractual agency for a large number of countries, inside NATO and outside of NATO. The nations are free to use it or not to use it. That is their decision. It has a good reputation, but if countries have got their own means of transport or alternative ways of transporting troops then that is what they use and they're perfectly entitled to do so. I don't drawn any conclusions from decisions one way or the other. Do you want to ask the first question again? You were too close to the microphone, I think. Q: Yeah, I'm sorry. Do you think that the most likely role for NATO in the future will be to replace coalition forces in future missions in the world, as we can see in Afghanistan or Iraq now? Lord Robertson: Well no, I don't see NATO purely be confined to taking over other operations, because NATO was designed as a collective security organization. It stands ready to defend the interests of its member states wherever the challenge to those nation states comes from and that is why we're taking over in Afghanistan because there is a threat to the NATO nations that comes directly from that region. But there will be areas where we will be involved by the decision of the member countries on our own, taking the initiative, I've no doubt, in the future. Indeed, during our discussions today I have to say that in relation to the discussions going on in the Middle East some ministers indicated that if these talks were successful at Sharm el-Sheikh today and Akaba tomorrow and if there was a need for some stabilization force in that region then NATO should not rule itself out of that equation. So there were a number of ministers, not all the ministers, who said that that was one of the areas where perhaps some offer might be made to that particular process. But we may be some way away from it, but the ministers here today commended Secretary Colin Powell for grabbing the opportunity that exists at the present moment to accompany his president in the pursuit of the road map to peace. There was great disappointment that he was not here with us in Madrid, but a sense of relief and of confidence that he was going to be out and engaged in such an important mission, a mission which every single European minister has urged upon him for the last two years. Q: Robert Vanderhof... from the Netherlands. Secretary General, don't you see any limits to the way NATO is now going out of area? Is there a danger that NATO could become a rival for UN peacekeeping for instance? Lord Robertson: The limits of what NATO does and what NATO needs to do will be determined by the 19 nations of NATO, or 26 next year, acting unanimously. That's the criterion that will be used. And they will measure whether it is in the interests of the Euro-Atlantic Area and the countries in the Alliance that they should be involved out of what used to be known as traditional areas, but which have now got to be seen as being very much part of the security environment in which we've got to give protection to people as well. We're not going to be some global policemen, but we're not going to be a European neighbourhood beat policeman either. We've got to be prepared to go, if necessary, where the threats are, and if the centre of New York City is attacked from the centre of Afghanistan, then that is where the interests of the Alliance may have to be protected. So we don't lay down limits at the present moment, but we create security structures that we hope will prevent people from taking the risk of attack allied nations, disrupting peace and security, and we've got to have the means to make sure that they don't do that. Turkey recognises the Republic of Macedonia with its constitutional name.