NATO HQ 9 June 2005

Opening statement by the Secretary General Meeting of the NATO-Russia Council in Defence Ministers Session Good afternoon, bonjour, dobriy dyen’, and welcome to this meeting of NATO-Russia Council Defence Ministers. Over the past year, the NATO-Russia Council has made significant strides in the fields of defence and military cooperation. Our meeting today offers an important opportunity to take stock of these achievements and to consider future priorities. We will be looking at issues of particular interest to all of us, such as defence reform, military-to-military cooperation and the further enhancement of interoperability between forces of Russia and NATO nations. Our focus should remain fixed on what is needed in order to make NATO-Russia partnership increasingly operational, through result-oriented practical cooperation. With Russia’s signature of the Partnership for Peace Status of Forces Agreement in April this year we took a significant step in this direction. This will open new horizons for concrete NATO-Russia cooperation and strengthen our ability to act together in the face of common threats. We look forward to its entry into force. Nowhere is the need for such cooperation more urgent than in the struggle against terrorism. Our discussion today will permit us to take stock of our common efforts in this area and to reaffirm our solidarity in this struggle. In this context, we will review in particular the state of preparations of Russian naval assets that will provide support to our anti-terrorist operation in the Mediterranean, Operation Active Endeavour. Les Ministres auront aussi l'occasion d'échanger des vues sur les questions de sécurité internationale présentant un intérêt commun, comme la situation de sécurité actuelle en Afghanistan, dans les Balkans, en Iraq, au Darfour, et en Asie centrale, y compris en Ouzbékistan.