NATO HQ 13 June 2003

Opening Statement by NATO Secretary General at the Euro-Atlantic Partnership Council Defence Ministerial Meeting Ministers, Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen, Friends Welcome to this meeting of the Euro-Atlantic Partnership Council in Defence Ministers’ Session. Since the Partnership for Peace and the EAPC were first launched, our Partnership has been constantly evolving to take full advantage of its unique composition – 46 countries linked by history and geography, determined to work together to banish war, build peace and security and to enhance prosperity. -This is the world’s largest permanent coalition. And we don’t just talk together – we act together as well. Last November in our historic Prague Summit we agreed on a set of measures to renew our Partnership and to adapt it to the new international environment, and we introduced new mechanisms, such as the Partnership Action Plan against Terrorism and the Individual Partnership Action Plans themselves. At our meeting here today we will take stock of progress. We will assess whether more needs to be done. We will consider whether further steps are needed to develop the Partnership. We will look especially at the threat that is posed by terrorism, and reflect on how we can accelerate our efforts to combat this scourge. Interoperability has been at the very core of our Partnership from the beginning. Our common efforts in the Balkans have been testimony to the fact that we are able to work together successfully. Partners have taken on important and increasingly demanding roles, for which we are extremely grateful. For example, Partners and other non-NATO nations now contribute 13% of all the forces in NATO-led operations in the Balkans and they are going to be key contributors in the International Security Assistance Force in Kabul. Since NATO has now decided to take a leading role in ISAF, our operational cooperation in the Partnership is going to become even more important. Foreign Ministers discussed these matters when they met in Madrid last week and tasked Ambassadors with follow-on work. Now it is the turn of Defence Ministers, who bear the major responsibility for the success of both our operational and non-operational cooperation. I look forward to a fruitful discussion of all these issues. It is our joint task to ensure that the Partnership continues to make its vital contribution to Euro-Atlantic security in a rapidly changing world.