NATO HQ 10 June 2005

Implications of NATO’s Transformation for Partnership Address by H.E. Mr. Jovan MANASIJEVSKI, Minister of the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (1) at the Defence Ministers' Meeting in EAPC Mr. Secretary General, Respected Colleagues, Ladies and Gentlemen, It is my great honour and a challenge to ta l k about the future of the Euro - Atlantic Partnership in the context of the NATO transformation. We can al l witness today and be encouraged by the growing role of the Partnership as an open forum fo r political consultations on a wide range of security issues, as well as a f l exible tool for practical defence cooperation. Both from a Partner and MAP country perspective , as well as coming from the Balkan Region, we perceive NATO as a political — military organization, which is not only an instrument for the collective security, but also the most efficient instrument for peace support. Th e Istanbul Summit has reaffirmed the priorities of the Euro - At l antic Partnership and has initiated new partnerships. Our specific experiences in the Balkans have taught us the value of investing in security, and moreover, investing in it jointly. I believe that it is important to point out that through the P f P we have learned to cooperate, to contribute to NATO-led operations and to provide support to other Partnerships. Based on these experiences, I think that some of the PfP mechanisms an d tools can be applie d in the new partnerships (the Mediterranean Dialogue and the Istanbul Cooperative Initiative), focusing on practical cooperation. As an illustration, the opening of training and education to PfP nations was one of the first steps towards cooperation and a requirement for mutua l understanding. In addition, it can be the first step towards new partnerships. Having this special honor today, I wou l d l ike also to say a few words on the Balkans. I hope I speak on behalf of all the countries when 1 say that the situation we have today in our Region is not only a success for its nations, but also for Alliance. NATO, leading the whole international community, and together with E U , OSCE and the UN, have brought peace to the Region, and opened the perspective for its Euro-Atlantic integration. Along with the new geographical focus of NATO, we welcome the decision of the Alliance to continue to keep its attention on the Balkans. The Region will still nee d the help and the assistance by the international community and NATO. The remaining issue-Kosovo- we all hope it will be solved soon, to the benefit of all, and instead of being preoccupied with security, our nations will be ab l e to devote themselves entirely to thei r economic prosperity; and by developing further the regional cooperation, to show that the Balkans can become a prosperous region of NAT O an d EU and a model for other regions. In this context, I would particularly like to underline one of the achievements of the Euro -Atlantic Partnership in the Balkans - the regional cooperation between Macedonia, Albania and Croatia within the framework of the Adriatic Charter. We have invested a lot of joint ef f orts and we have made significant achievements. We look forward to the upcoming deployment of the combined medical team in Afghanistan. We are working jointly on attaining the interoperability standards and general l y, on the membership requirements. Macedonia, as a ten-year member to the P f P and a six-year member to the MAP, through a close cooperation with the Alliance, has matured both in political and secur i ty terms, transforming itself along with the Allia n ce. Starting off as a transit and stationing nation for the NATO troops in the Balkans, we are now together in Afghanistan and together with the All i es in I raq. In the near future, we are going to increase our contribution in Afghanistan. For us it comes without saying that tomorrow we will be together with NATO in Darfur. It is how we understand the Partnership and it i s how we understand the Alliance. Macedonia has had a unique experience in creating and implementing its national defence reforms, in cooperation with NATO. The Strategic Defence Review has laid down the long-term transfo r m a tion goals for its armed forces: personnel downsizing and restructuring, enhancement of their training and better equipping. The key goal of all these efforts is to achieve and maintain interoperability. I am happy to underscore that due to our dedication to the defence reforms we are approaching the res u lt we have been striving for: professional armed force, wel l structured, well trained and equipped, sustainable, mobile and deployable. The Macedonian troops deployed in Afghanistan and Iraq are the most visible result of the ongoing defence reforms. On the other hand, the operational experiences from ISA F and I raq call for new requirements and new values for the military organization and directly affect the defence reforms. Macedon i a has gained a number of benefits from its participation in the PARP process, a process that has persistently and patiently modeled its national defence reforms. The PARP Ministerial Guidance 2005 direct the Partners' defence reforms towards further enhancement of their interoperability and development of operational capabilities for participation of Partners in the NRF. We express our fu l l support to the proposed concept for further development of the PARP. As an aspirant nation, we are ready to accept the challenge of preparing and contributing with our operational forces to the NRF (and I believe that this challenge is a l so on the agenda of other PfP nations). The new Partnership Goals 2006 package can be defined as a road map towards that goal through a process o f force i dentification and their preparation according to NRF standards. The Operational Capabilit i es Concept, which we view as a very benef i cial tool for the Partnership may be essential to the preparation of interoperable forces for crisis management operations. The realization of the OCC Implementation Plan together with the Alliance will mean exploitation of the OCC and a necessary first step towards preparation and evaluation of the declared units. In this context , we welcome the opening of the NA TO exercises to the PfP nations, as well as the enhanced training according the NRF criteria. Respected Colleagues, We are all aware, that along with the NATO t r ansfo r mation, the Euro - Atlantic Partnership needs further refocusing (pa rti c u larly in substantive terms) and renewal. A number of arguments say that the developed mechanisms for cooperation in the framework of the Euro - Atlant i c Partnership have provided a considerable practical contribution to defence reforms and to the increase of the operational capabilities of the Partners. Still, it is necessary to further pursue the defence reforms (and the overall reforms) and achieve ' interoperability with NATO forces. In short , we see the future of the Euro - Atlantic Partnership in increasing its military operational capabilities for effective contribution to NATO-led operations and missions. Thank you for your attention. Turkey recognises the Republic of Macedonia with its constitutional name.