Taormina, Italy 9 Feb. 2006

Remarks by Antonio Martino, Minister of Defence of Italy at the informal meeting of NATO Defence Ministers Event Informal meetings of NATO Defence Ministers Multimedia Audio file of the opening remarks by Antonio Martino, Minister of Defence of Italy (.MP3/1484kb) I'd like to welcome you all, colleagues and delegations, to Taormina. Let me say how happy I am to host this meeting, having witnessed over the past five years as Minister of Defence the remarkable adaptability of our organization to the new threats we are facing in a rapidly-changing security environment. The core of our discussions in Taormina is transformation. Transformation means evolution. It means introducing new tools to accomplish new tasks, such as peacekeeping, crisis management, combating terrorism, and the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. It means reacting promptly to a wider range of contingencies. It also means strengthening our partnership with Russia and the Mediterranean Dialogue countries and further developing cooperation with international organizations and with the UN in particular. All these aspects, where we have already made considerable progress, will be discussed in our meeting. The ability to transform and meet new challenges is perhaps the most outstanding accomplishment of our Alliance, which has successfully faced unprecedented situations and has seen its importance increase, evolving from an Alliance of collective defence to an organization of collective security. Italy strongly believes in NATO's new role and has increasingly invested its resources and taken upon itself an important share of NATO's new responsibilities, being convinced of the need to defend the values of freedom, democracy and peace which are the cornerstones of our societies. To reach these goals Italy has deployed today more men than it has ever deployed in the past, and is currently commanding NATO operations in Afghanistan, ISAF, and KFOR in Kosovo. Not to mention our command of Operation Althea for the European Union in Bosnia, and of the European Union mission at the Rafah border crossing. Let me say that we are proud of our record. Allow me to reiterate against this background the crucial function of the transatlantic relationship and the need to preserve and strengthen this vital and unique organization, NATO, while adapting it to the requirements of a changing security environment. In 1955, here in Taormina, the Ministers of Foreign Affairs of the six founding nations of today's European Union, my father among them, concluded the Conference of Messina, which laid the foundations of European integration. I hope that today Taormina will once again be the setting for a fruitful meeting helping us to prepare successfully the future NATO Summit in Riga. Thank you.