Taormina, Italy 9 Feb. 2006

Statement to the press by Antonio Martino, Minister of Defence of Italy after the informal meeting of NATO Defence Ministers Event Informal meetings of NATO Defence Ministers Multimedia Audio file of the statement to the press by Antonio Martino, Minister of Defence of Italy (.MP3/1645kb) Well, I've been asked to speak English, but I'll take a question or two in Italian if there are at the end. This meeting, this triple meeting, takes place at the end of the five most intense years for the Ministry of Defence in the entire history of the Republic of Italy. And it takes place at a very important time for NATO's life and NATO's role in the world. NATO, as you know, started as a defence alliance. It still retains its original mission, but after the collapse of the Soviet Union and September 11 it has become more and more a security organization. Which means that its scope and the way it operates have changed. Defence alliances are exclusive. They are aimed against other countries. They're characterized by the countries that do not belong to them, whereas security organizations are inclusive. Under certain conditions they are more effective the larger the number of countries that belong to them. This explains why NATO has enlarged. Now 26 countries are members of NATO, and then the partners, and then the important events which will take here after the informal ministerial, like the NATO-Russia Council. The NATO-Russia Council is the result of decisions made in Rome, actually in Pratica di Mare, in May 2002. The idea was that a security organization had to include the Russian Federation if it wanted to be effective. And after that we are going to have for the first time the Mediterranean Dialogue of NATO, which will see NATO members have a dialogue with seven countries from the southern shore of the Mediterranean, six Arab countries and the state of Israel. The nature of the operations of NATO has also changed. A defence organization does not engage in helping the victims of the earthquake in Pakistan. It does not engage in training soldiers and police and security forces in Iraq. It's a security organization. More and more so. And I'm certainly honoured to host this important meeting here, which sees 34 Defence Ministers gathered in Taormina. The 26 NATO members, Russia, and the 7 participants from the Mediterranean Dialogue. I think Taormina is an excellent place to have such a meeting for a variety of reasons. One of them is that it's usually a place that brings good luck. On the night of June 2nd, 1955, six Foreign Ministers, my father included, met here, and they made decisions that eventually led to the creation of an integrated Europe. So let's hope that this meeting has equal success. Thank you.