Sofia, Bulgaria 27 April 2006

Speech by NATO Secretary General, Jaap de Hoop Scheffer at the 15th anniversary of the Atlantic Club of Bulgaria in the margins of the Sofia Ministerial Ministers, Your Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen, Let me start by thanking the Atlantic Club of Bulgaria for their kind invitation to speak to you this afternoon and participate in the Club’s 15 th anniversary celebrations. This Club has been an agent for change since its establishment in 1991. And it has been at the forefront in encouraging Atlantic values and in garnering political and public support for Bulgaria’s membership of NATO. The Atlantic Club’s efforts, and its aspirations for Bulgaria, came to fruition when Bulgaria acceded to the North Atlantic Alliance. Shortly after that historic day in Washington, I came here to Sofia to address this Club, and to say “Welcome to NATO”. That was 2 years ago, and a lot has changed since then, both for the Atlantic Club of Bulgaria, and for the Alliance. Following the end of the Cold War, there had been those who wondered what possible role there could be for NATO. Similarly, following your accession to the Alliance, there were those who had asked what role there could be for the Atlantic Club of Bulgaria. I would answer to both those questions that we have exactly the same role to play, namely, sustaining the trans-Atlantic relationship that epitomises NATO; safeguarding and spreading the core values of democracy and human rights; and contributing to strengthening regional security and stability, both in Europe and beyond. Under the wise and guiding hands of your president, Doctor Solomon Passy, and your chairman and chief executive officer, Doctor Ivanov, your Club continues to play its role most effectively. You successfully keep NATO in the public eye in Bulgaria and encourage the necessary parliamentary support for Bulgaria’s active role in our Alliance. The generous hosting of our Foreign Ministers’ meetings here today and tomorrow is a highly visible element of that commitment. Indeed, with Minister Kalfin we have just validated a postage stamp to commemorate this Ministerial meeting and the 15 th anniversary of the Atlantic Club of Bulgaria. But there is also much more to Bulgaria’s contribution to the Alliance than hospitality, and that is reflected in this excellent exhibition that the Ministry of Defence has sponsored. Your country contributes to peacekeeping operations undertaken under the authority of international organisations, as well as bilaterally with other nations. Many of these contributions are exhibited here this afternoon and offer a glimpse of the considerable support that Bulgaria has made to support international efforts to promote peace, stability and security. Of course, it is your contributions to NATO-led operations in particular that help to make you such a highly valued member of our Alliance. In addition to the uninterrupted contribution you made to the Stabilisation Force in Bosnia and Herzegovina, you continue to participate to KFOR in Kosovo, to ISAF in Afghanistan, to Operation Active Endeavour in the Mediterranean, and to NATO’s Training Mission in Iraq. This is an impressive list of contributions, and I should like to take this opportunity to thank you --- all of you --- as well as the members of your armed forces, for this active and valuable support. As we consider NATO-led operations, it is worth reminding ourselves that while we gather here this afternoon, men and women from the Alliance are deployed on operations and missions on three continents: in addition to providing stability in Europe and parts of Central Asia, we are also assisting the African Union in its peace-keeping mission in Darfur. Until recently, we were also providing humanitarian relief, firstly in the United States following Hurricane Katrina and then in Pakistan, following the earth quake. When Bulgaria first aspired to join the Alliance, such a spread of tasks and geography for NATO would have been unthinkable. But today, it is taken for granted and nobody questions it. It is very clear from the operations and missions that I have just described, that NATO is very much in demand, and it is likely to remain in demand, possibly increasingly so. It is therefore essential that we learn the right lessons from all these operations and missions, and draw out the relevant implications, so that we can ensure we are appropriately prepared to face the future. And there is not only a military dimension to this process, there is a very important political dimension too. This re-orientation of our Alliance is already well under way. The meetings of NATO Heads of State and Government in Prague in 2002 and in Istanbul in 2004 have laid very firm foundations, and they will be built upon at the next NATO summit in Riga in November. And it is very much with the Riga summit in mind that Foreign Ministers are meeting informally here in Sofia. And I must stress the informal nature of these discussions. I do not anticipate any formal decisions being taken, but our meetings, today and tomorrow, will provide essential political guidance as we make the final preparations for the Riga summit. So what will we be talking about? In broad terms, there will be two main topics. The political aspects relating to our operations and missions will be one subject, and the other will be the future of our partnerships and the wider process of Euro-Atlantic integration. Let me start with the political aspects of our operations and missions. We are now in the process of expanding ISAF’s presence into the south of Afghanistan, and later we will take responsibility for the eastern region too. This presents both opportunities, and challenges, for the Alliance, and we shall need to consider those. We shall also discuss how best we can contribute to the Government of Afghanistan’s efforts in the areas of defence and security sector reform, border security and counter-narcotics. In Kosovo, our role continues to evolve. We are supporting the United Nations sponsored talks on Kosovo’s future status and shall be discussing how our military and political engagement can continue to contribute effectively to the future development of Kosovo. We shall also be discussing issues relating to our Training Mission in Iraq and looking at how we can further develop our support to the training of Iraqi security forces. And finally, in relation to operations and missions, we shall discuss NATO’s continued support to the African Union mission in Darfur, and the possible support by NATO of a United Nations follow-on mission later in the year. Turning now to the second topic, partnerships and the wider process of Euro-Atlantic integration, we shall be looking at how we can preserve those elements of our partnership frameworks that work well, and make them even more valuable – both for our partners, and for the Alliance. In addition, we will need to look at how to strengthen our relations with other interested and potentially force contributing countries, such as Australia or New Zealand. While NATO is not a global alliance, we need global partners to continue to meet today’s challenges. Closely related to the partnership issue, is NATO’s enlargement process. We shall consider options for the next steps, both in relation to those countries in the Western Balkans participating in our Membership Action Plan, as well as others who have expressed a desire to join NATO, Ukraine and Georgia. Over dinner this evening, NATO and European Union ministers will, in an informal setting, discuss those issues where we have common interests, and which require concerted action by the wider international community. Finally, tomorrow, NATO Foreign Ministers will also meet with their Russian and Ukrainian counterparts. In our meeting with Russia, we shall have the opportunity to review our cooperation to date, and discuss priorities in the further development of our relations. And in our meeting with Ukraine, we shall look forward to discussing political developments in the country following the recent parliamentary elections, particularly their possible impact on Ukraine’s aspirations for NATO membership. Ministers, Your Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen, I have laid out for you the busy agenda for our discussions over the next two days. But I have deliberately not attempted to anticipate the specific outcome of those discussions. That is because the meetings are in an informal format, where the priority is not to take decisions, but is to have frank and open exchanges of views. Such exchanges are an essential feature of today’s NATO, a NATO where the importance of political dialogue has been enhanced. Because such dialogue, and a clear understanding of each other’s views, form the basis upon which consensus is achieved. As I mentioned earlier, our meeting in Sofia needs to be seen in the context of the Riga summit at the end of this year. The views expressed here over the next two days will shape the political preparations for that summit. In this way, when our Heads of State and Government meet in Riga, they will be able to take the necessary decisions to ensure the continued vitality of our Alliance --- an Alliance ready and capable of meeting the increasing demands placed up on it --- and an Alliance to which the Atlantic Club of Bulgaria, and Bulgaria itself, has already contributed so much. Thank you.