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Updated: 25-May-2005 NATO Speeches

Åre, Sweden

25 May 2005

Euro-Atlantic Partnership Council (EAPC)
Security Forum

Address by H.E. Magda Vášáryová,
State Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Slovakia
for the Panel
“NATO and its other Partnerships”

Dear Deputy Secretary General,

Distinguished Colleagues, Guests, Dear Friends,

Permit me to start by thanking our host, Sweden, for providing such an excellent venue for the EAPC Security Forum. We firmly believe that this new format will gain its stable place in the EAPC diary.

I have chosen to address the forum in this panel because this subject is particularly close to my heart. Since the end of the Cold War, I have witnessed how the co-operation with European and transatlantic structures can help an emerging democracy to fully grow up. I have also seen how the new European democracies themselves have risen to significance by helping to widen the zone of democracy and stability.

NATO's success has been always based on an active, participative solidarity - willingness to accept risks and tackle challenges together. Recent developments manifest the global nature of current and future security threats. We have to confront these threats accordingly - that’s why the NATO´s cooperation with its Partners is of growing importance. That‘s why the drive for an enhanced political dialogue within the Alliance is fully extendable also to the EAPC.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Slovakia is one of those nations that gathered a close and beneficiary experience with her participation in the Partnership for Peace Programme during the 10 years of its existence. Slovakia has gone through the demanding reforms during past several years. This has helped us to qualify for the membership in the clubs of most developed democratic countries. EAPC, PfP, MAP and bilateral assistance have created a valuable framework for our planning and defence reform implementation. And we know that now it is a “payback time”: we are willing and ready to share our experience gained in the process of preparation for NATO membership, especially in the field of development of strategic security policy documents, adaptation of internal structures for cooperation with NATO, defence reform implementation, public relations and regional cooperation.

In response to the changing international environment Alliance is putting special impetus on engaging with partners in the strategically important regions of Caucasus and Central Asia. Therefore, NATO refocuses existing resources towards these regions to enhance stability across the Euro-Atlantic area by encouraging and supporting necessary reforms.

Sadly, recent developments in Central Asia displayed that respect for democratic values has not been firmly anchored in all Partner nations there. Partnership has to be a two-way street. We urge the Uzbek authorities to allow an independent international investigation of reported use of excessive and disproportionate force by the security forces. Partners are expected to stand by their commitments to universal democratic values.

We should not forget that current global security threats are objectively shifting the boundaries of NATO´s operation out of the area. Thus the importance of engagement of our Mediterranean Dialogue and Istanbul Cooperation Initiative partners is increasing.

If we are looking to the future, and consider how best the Partnership for Peace can adapt to meet the new challenges that we face together, we can see new opportunities for improvement of our Partners’ interoperability and strengthening of the political dialogue. We welcome the intention of NATO to seek the possible involvement by troop contributing nations in the decision-shaping process. Both NATO and Partners have an interest of improved consultations. The Partnership is crucial for ensuring military interoperability. NATO’s decision to open selected NATO exercisesto interested Partners was an important step. We welcome an intensified effort to implement the Partnership Action Plan against terrorism.

We are convinced that NATO should continue - through Partnership for Peace - to support Partners who wish to join the Alliance, consistent with the Open Door Policy enshrined in the Washington treaty and the PfP Invitation Document. The road of Ukraine to NATO will no doubt prove that the Partnership could be put to use in this regard.

Last but not least, a couple of words on the Western Balkans in the Partnerships context. With the benefit of the hindsight I feel that the approach of the international community vis-à-vis this region could have been more creative, more generous.

For one, this region which remains critically important for the stability of the whole continent offers a unique opportunity to bring to life, to test a concept of strategic partnership between NATO and EU. I do think the potential of this concept is still waiting to be used in its fullness.

And secondly, making use of the open-minded character of this forum, I could imagine that when at some future stage looking back and taking lessons-learned, we might come to a conclusion that the Alliance and the case of regional stability would have been better served with Serbia and Montenegro as well as Bosnia and Herzegovina as already members of the Partnership for Peace.

To sum up, I welcome the ambitious approach to the future of the Partnership for Peace taken at the Prague and Istanbul summits and further elaborated at the EAPC ministerial meeting in December. We will need that level of ambition in order to meet the tasks ahead. We have made good use of the first ten years of the PfP. I am sure we will continue this trend in the decades to come.

Thank you for your attention.

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