Press briefing

by Acting NATO Deputy Spokesman, Robert Pszczel

ROBERT PSZCZEL (Acting NATO Deputy Spokesman):Thank you very much for coming. I know it's an interesting and busy day in Brussels, so all the much... all the more appreciated. It has been, still is actually, quite a busy day. I've actually come out from the meeting, which is still going on, which is  part of the two NRC NATO-Russia Council meetings. It's a meeting devoted to missile defence.

I'll come to that after, but in chronological order let me start with the first meeting that took place today, which was the meeting of the North Atlantic Council and the meeting is, the tradition, of course, started with operational issues, and not surprisingly, Afghanistan was the first item.

Secretary General reported to the permanent representatives on his most recent trip to Afghanistan, which took place last week. It was very productive, very rich in terms of the meetings, the places visited, and of course, the agenda.

On the trip Secretary General had an opportunity to meet, of course, with the Afghan leadership, including President Karzai, with whom he had an extensive exchange of views, the special representative, Ambassador Everts, of course, Commander of ISAF. He visited Jalalabad. He visited different Provincial Reconstruction Teams, Tirin Kot, for example. He was in Kandahar. He visited one of the major reconstruction projects which is the Kajaki Dam, and also met with a number of the governors. In fact, four governors, if I'm not mistaken.

He also met, of course, representatives of international organizations, present and working together most of the time with NATO .

The Secretary General came back with a pretty positive feeling. In the sense that the comprehensive approach that NATO, together again with (inaudible), has not only been prompting, but actually implementing, is bring fruit. There are lots of examples—in fact, Kajaki Dam is an example of one—which show that indeed it is not just a slogan. Security and reconstruction go hand-in-hand. You need appropriate security presence—of course, the Afghans supported by ISAF—in order to have the reconstruction and development projects, such as the Kajaki Dam, but there are many other examples and there are things happening. There are, over the moment, one thousand, for example, development projects which are associated with the Provincial Reconstruction Teams, the ones that NATO is playing a major role. Of course, there are many others, but I think it's worth mentioning. And that, of course covers a whole range of activities related to road, building hospitals, schools, you name it.

The important point also, which I think one needs to bear in mind, we would like to obviously stress is the fact that a lot has been done on the NATO side since the Riga Summit and even since the most recent meeting in Seville in terms of our capabilities. Capabilities of ISAF. I mean, again, in statistical terms we're talking since Riga, for example, well over 7,000 more troops which are available to the ISAF commander, and that, of course, it's not just about the numbers, but it's... I know you guys are interested in numbers, that's something which is very important and also it is the reflection of the fact that nations have essentially answered the calls that have been made, and lessons that have been learned since, for example, Operation Medusa last summer and all other security developments in Afghanistan.

So the points, observations, made by the Secretary General, and of course, the nations have their own, they all point us in the direction that we have the right strategy, we are working hand in hand with other members of the international community, and of course, with the Afghan government itself.

There are also, things which have their own, if you like, dynamic. This is not just a question of setting in stone some targets or strategies and then not  responding to needs. One example of the fact that we do work hand-in-hand and we are there to support the Afghan people is, for instance, the efforts, specific efforts being made in northern Helmand province. This is about... well, if we're to describe it in short, it's about the improvement in the quality of life of the Afghan people. And a very important aspect of that is that there needs to be a variable alternative to the intimidation and brutality that they are ensuring under the places which happen to be under the control of the Taliban extremists.

So these are the efforts, I'm being specific about something which is happening... which is being prepared right now, is that ISAF is responding to the requests of the Afghan government and even more specifically about some local authorities in order to help, to break, for example, the stranglehold that in some places the Taliban extremists and the narco traffickers, for example, have in obstructing the development.

So this is precisely the type of an action which involves both the security aspects, but also the reconstruction and development.

I've mentioned the 7,000 increase, and of course, that involves a lot of nations stepping out. I don't need to remind you that was very much in the news, and we're extremely happy to hear the recent U.S. announcements, British government announcement, many other countries. Talking about again, there is elements, forces, the force packages, including, for instance, helicopters, planes. The latest news is the Slovak government decision to propose to the Parliament sending engineers to Kandahar.

So we're talking about a whole number, in fact I would say a very large number, of allies stepping up as they say and answering the calls for a greater improvements to the capability of ISAF.

Moving to one more thing, just a small example also of the type of exchanges and the interest we have, and I think it was vice versa, in terms of contacts with the Afghan public and the representatives, we come in and just enjoy having the pleasure of hosting a visit of the Afghan women, parliamentarians and government officials. They are here for a number of days meeting NATO officials, civilian military. They'll meet the Secretary General tomorrow. And we value very much opportunities like that.

Now, moving swiftly to other parts of the agenda, of the NAC today. The Balkans was the next issue. Now those of you who were here on Monday had a chance to question both the Secretary General and Dr. Solana after the NATO-EU meeting, which was very useful. It was devoted essentially indeed to the Balkans, both to the cooperation in Bosnia, but even more in-depth on the type of work that needs to be done by both organizations in terms of preparing ourselves for there what can be described as post settlement situation in Kosovo.

This is, of course, not the process we are in the driving seat, but it is obvious, it's logical. It requires not just prudent planning in view of the, let's say probable or possible role that both organizations can and would play, but also requires a lot of synchronicity and coordination. That is exactly what this meeting was devoted to and there are, of course many things happening on the experts level.

So in fact, it was mentioned today as well, that meetings like that are very useful.

The Secretary General will be paying a visit to Belgrade next week. He mentioned this, but I just remind you, on next Thursday.

The next subject was issues related to our assistance to the African Union. There is nothing sort of groundbreaking for me to announce, except that we are continuing with our assistance, particularly in the transport and in the training field, but we are expecting a very interesting visit on Friday. That is Ambassador Djinnit, who is the high-ranking official responsible for the head of the Commission for Peace and Security of the African Union. So he will meet both the Secretary General and the North Atlantic Council and we're very much forward to the discussions with him.  

Then moving to another issue that was the subject of discussions. It's quite a technical briefing in a way, because it deals with the subject of the Central European pipeline system. It was an annual report, if you like, but since recently, as it happened, there were some interesting questions posed by media. It was a good opportunity to refresh the knowledge both inside NATO about the great value of that cooperation and have a look forward, so the briefing was providing by, of course, the chairman of the organization, the Central Europe Pipeline Management Organization and the general manager of the organization there. For those of you who are not familiar this is a system which, at the moment, includes six countries; Belgium, France, Germany, Luxembourg, The Netherlands and the United States. It was set up in 1958. It has, obviously, undergone some changes, but the essence of it remains the same, which is a very dense system of plants providing primarily jet fuel, a network of over 5,000 kilometres linked to military airfields and fuel depots.

And it's a system which has been very much in use because it has, for example, supported various operations which originate in terms of the transport in this region and one interesting fact, which as I said, perhaps generated some questions recently is the fact that, indeed, because of the extensive capabilities of this system, some parts of it, or some elements of it have been, the capacity, if you like, have been offered to commercial companies. But let me stress that this does not mean that the system itself is being offered for some kind of privatization exercise. This is using the, so to speak, spare capacities of the system for commercial and therefore reimbursement, basis.

So it was, of course, a report which was welcomed and generated interest. And is the system very much NATO will be using.

Now, moving swiftly to the meeting which is, as I mentioned, was still going on as I left. It's quite an unusual meeting, although not as unusual as some people think. That is a meeting with General Obering, who is the director of the U.S. Missile Defence Agency, and it's his only meeting today at NATO. And that is a meeting of the NATO-Russia Council.

The general has provided a briefing on the U.S. Missile Defence Plans, including matters which relate to the current negotiations with two allies concerning the possible deployment of interceptors and raid assistance. This is, by the way, not the first time such a briefing took place. First, the most recent time was November last year, where General Obering was also briefing the NATO-Russia Council, and judging by the tone and the remarks made by different delegations, I think there's a very high probability that there will be more exchanges and consultations on this subject in the future, in the framework of the NATO-Russia Council.

One of the interesting points which was made during the meeting was the fact that indeed, if one looks at the frequency of the consultations between the United States, and incidentally some of the other countries involved, and Russia, you have to talk about double digits when you look into, for instance, last year and  this year and therefore this was an event and the consultation briefing, lots of questions, that's why the meeting is still going on, incidentally, on very, very diverse aspects of the system related to geography, the threat assessment, some technical issues and so on.

But the point is that if the name of the game is transparency, then NATO-Russia Council is an excellent forum for it and we are very proud of our record so far. But it's very clear from the discussions, the interest shown by delegations, I have to say when I was leaving the meeting, more or less every single permanent representative from allied countries and Russia had already taken the floor.  In fact General Obering was answering many questions; I think this is a forum which will be very much used both today and in the future. 

So just to finish on that subject, though that has not happened yet, but the other session, the second session of the NATO-Russia Council following that one will be devoted to, if you like, the wash-up following the most recent NATO-Russia Council Defence Ministers' Meeting.

Looking ahead, this is the anniversary year, of course, and also the ambassadors will discuss the so-called working plan, which they hope to adopt soon, concerning the whole breadth of relationship.

One specific example, if I may, of the activities in the NATO-Russia Council is the event which his actually taking place right now today in Vilnius, Lithuania. This is a high-level meeting, high-level talks, on enhancing NATO-Russia defence cooperation. The specific focus of this meeting is to look at the lessons learned by both allies and Russia in terms of the process of transformation of the armed forces, of the military reform. Such meetings have taken place before. Last time the high-level format was used for the meeting in September 2004 in Warsaw.

So as I say,  I mention this because it's happening today, but it's a good example of the type of things that are happening.

Now, very briefly, because I don't want to do all the talking today, there are certain events which we are expecting very soon. Actually, sorry, I should mention yesterday there was a visit of the President of Georgia, President Saakashvili. This was just a meeting with the Secretary General, but a very open, very free-flowing and reaching substance there.

The main elements, those of you who came to the press conference had a chance on the press to hear it, but let me reiterate nevertheless. First of all, the Secretary General stressed very much the point about the wisdom of using to the fullest existing formats of cooperation to NATO and Russia, which is primarily the so-called IPAP, Individual Partnership Action Program and the Intensified Dialogue. There are various reports of various evaluations that Georgia has asked from NATO experts, and they do point to various areas in which we would suggest that Georgia should put more stress in terms of forms,. these issues relate to both the political and the democratic field. Strictly speaking, defence reform. But also there was a good opportunity to discuss the regional situation and express, quite frankly, appreciation both for their (inaudible), but also for Georgia's concrete contribution to NATO operations, particularly KFOR, and there was some mention by President Saakashvili the possibilities which may relate to Georgia's participation in ISAF.

Last, but not least, let me again remind what the Secretary General said on the famous question of the timetables. There are no timetables when it comes to  the question of moving to new formats, new levels, cooperation, for example, the Membership Action Plan or any other... that is, of course, performance driven and there are no predetermined decisions on that.

Anyway, very, very useful interesting meeting.

In the coming days I've mentioned the meeting with Ambassador Djinnit of African Union. I should mention also the meeting tomorrow with the Hungarian Defence Minister, Mr. Imre Szekeres. And next week there will be a visit on Monday of the Czech Prime Minister, Mr. Topolanek and the Egyptian Foreign Minister Mr. Aboul Gheit. That's part of, of course, our intensive Mediterranean Dialogue range of consultations.

And I've already mentioned the Secretary General's trip to Belgrade, to Serbia.

I think... if I have not forgotten anything, I will stop here and of course, I'm happy to take your questions.

Yes, okay.

Q:One question, in relation with yesterday's attack on Bagram. Apparently the visit of Vice President Cheney was secret.  Nobody knew about it.  As is the regular thing. But some people knew, and the people that knew about it are the ones that are supposed not to know anything about it.

Are we—we, I mean NATO—is NATO concerned about this leakage of information and the possibility of having someone amongst us that is not trustable?

PSZCZEL:It could be you! (Laughs). Not among you, surely. No, I mean, of course, NATO and the U.S., because it was our U.S. colleagues which of course were organizing this visit and of course they take security, as we all do, extremely seriously. So if there were any things that need to be looked at in great detail, of course, I'm a hundred percent sure they are being looked into.

Ultimately, of course, the main thing is that the Vice President was safe. He did complete fully his visit. Unfortunately we, of course, we're very sorry to note the deaths, both U.S. soldier, Korean soldier and a number of local people. So that is, unfortunately, the nature of the security environment in Afghanistan and particularly perhaps in that part. So I'm sure if there are some security issues, lessons, they are being learned.

Q:Yes, Robert, just a question on the Balkans. Yesterday the EU confirmed it would be drawing down its troops in Bosnia from 6,000 to 2,500 by June and we just heard from EU officials that they effectively they're planning has seen there is very little risk of a spillover from Kosovo, if there were any ethnic tensions in Kosovo, there'd be very little risk of a spillover into Bosnia from that.

And I wanted to know if NATO shares that security assessment and can you just confirm who will the Secretary General be meeting when he goes to Belgrade next week?

PSZCZEL:On the first part of your question, well, first of all, precisely, meetings like we had on Monday and of course, many, many contacts on a staff level, and I mean, here in Brussels, but also in theatre, whether it's in relation to Bosnia that's, for instance, Sarajevo and Bosnia were in relation to Kosovo, that's in Pristina, that are held between NATO and EU apart from all the other objectives are always... I mean, have an important goal of precisely exchanging views, information and essentially developing maybe a common security assessment.

So we take, and I'm sure the EU, of course, would know any potential risks of any (inaudible), we look at the situation in the region both, in its, of course, specific location context, but also we look in a broader sense, so bearing in mind the fact that the decision that you have referred to on the drawing... that is not something which came out of the blue.

That it is, in effect, something which already had a preliminary form already quite a few months ago. This is more a confirmation of this. So there are, as always appropriate plans, and necessary evaluations which accompanied it and EU, like us, has a habit of making sure there is never kind of a vacuum in security terms. That goes both for Bosnia and Kosovo, where, of course, the situation is different, no doubt it. And therefore, if there were any signals, any justifiable sort of causes for it there would be a proper action that could be taken and there are capabilities in theatre to take care of that.

On the second part of your question, I could provide you perhaps with some elements, but I think that would not be very helpful. If you just bear with us for a few days then we will definitely have the full information. But there is no question that the Secretary General will meet a wide range of Serbian officials, politicians and other representatives.

Please.

Q:We have a follow-up sur les Balkans et ce risque de contamination du conflit au Kosovo, enfin s'il y a des tensions. J'aimerais savoir si l'OTAN a en vue les relations inter-Albanaises entre la Macédoine et les Albanais du Kosovo. Est-ce que vous avez connaissance des activités du mouvement self-determination qui a ouvert des bureaux en Macédoine?

Et deuxièmement, est-ce qu'il y a une possibilité d'envoyer plus de troupes au Kosovo? Les Serbes du Kosovo, enfin le leader serbe du Kosovo a dit qu'il ne se sentait pas protégé ni par la KFOR, ni par UNMIK pour le moment. J'aimerais savoir votre réaction là-dessus.

PSZCZEL:Bon merci, est-ce que c'est la première question? J'ai encore l'impression que vous avez déjà posé cette question lundi. Mais voila...

Q:Oui, il y a Monsieur Foueri(?) hier au Parlement a condamné ce mouvement. J'aimerais savoir si l'OTAN a...

PSZCZEL:Le principe général est absolument clair. L'OTAN est totalement.,. il n'y a pas de nuance ici. Nous sommes totalement contre chaque action, chaque initiative qui posait le danger pour la procédure démocratique, pour la procédure normale. C'est très clair dans les pays que vous avez mentionnés, nous sommes prêts pour beaucoup d'éventualité.

En ce qui concerne les capacités de l'OTAN pour réagir. Et ça, ça inclût la situation de questions par exemple de réserve, voilà, augmentation. Ça, c'est inclus dans la planification opérationnelle. À notre avis, nous sommes prêts pour. élargir dans le cas que c'est nécessaire.

Q:Could you tell us more please, about the visit of the Czech Prime Minister on Monday? I suppose they meet with General Secretary about anti-missile systems, and one question more general, is NATO concerned by the announcements of Russian generals saying that they're going to turn their missiles against Czech Republic and (inaudible)... response to U.S. bases or (inaudible) bases. Thank you.

PSZCZEL:Thank you very much for this question. Yes, the Czech Prime Minister will meet with the Secretary General in the afternoon. I don't know, of course... he has other plans in Brussels. I would assume that, indeed, the issue of the missile defence might be a subject of discussion, but again, more generally, I mean, we are... the Heads of Governments of every allied country are more than welcome. I mean, these are very important visits. We're talking about visits of the shareholders of the Alliance, so the Secretary General is very much looking forward to that discussion.

On the specific question that you mentioned, well, in fact, as it happens, during the meeting that has just been taking place, maybe it's just finished now, there were rather clear statements made by many allies, I would say almost probably, you know, a great majority of allies, precisely on this issue, very, very clearly expressing the fact that these kind of statements are not helpful, they're not acceptable and quite frankly, they're not compatible with the spirit and the nature of the relationship that is often described as strategic partnership between NATO and Russia.

Nobody, of course, NATO, it's not an organization that does want to ever dramatizes any statements per se, but nevertheless, I think there's a very clear view of all the allies and that view was expressed, that statements like this are, as a minimum not helpful, and I think they are simply considered not acceptable and not in line with the relationship that we actually are having.

And I think it's also a sign of maturity of the relationship NATO has with Russia that we have plenty of opportunities for straight talk and for clarifying any misunderstandings that may have come.

Please.

Q:Robert, I hate to bother you again with anti-missile defence, but still two questions from that. Recently John Colston stated that to the end of the year allies should consider the possibility of linkage or integration of strategic and theatre missile systems. Could we expect that issue will be raised in Oslo in formal meeting of Ministers of Foreign Affairs in Oslo?

And the second question concerning the cooperation, practical cooperation between NATO and Russia, in that sphere, could you remind us what was the fate of proposals by Russian side concerning the practical cooperation, tactical cooperation in creating such a theatre missile... theatre defence missile system with NATO?

And did the Russian side inform you about now widely advertising project of the anti-aircraft missiles of a fifth generation which will be combined anti-aircraft, anti-missile and anti-space functions?

Thank you.

PSZCZEL:Thank you very much. Well, as far as the issue of the NATO's project in the field of missile defence, I mean, most of you know this, but it's never a bad idea to clarify things. Obviously we have a project which is ongoing. That's the Active Layered Theatre Ballistic Defence project that's an ongoing one. There was a contract signed, as you know, in Riga on the integration test bed. And there is progress in building those blocks, if you like. This concerned particularly the lower tier capabilities, such as Patriot and other systems very encouraging progress.

Now, that is the Theatre Missile Defence. Now as far as the larger issue, you know, what you have, of course, is the feasibility study. The feasibility study, which has been welcomed, which has drawn various conclusions, identified several options of the missile defence architecture, and the Riga Summit decision was very clear, that that feasibility study was not just noticed, but welcomed and allies Heads of Government decided that NATO will pursue this issue. Therefore, yes, not only you can expect there will be consultations, there will be discussions.

The interesting thing about the discussion today, which was in the NATO-Russia Council was that this was something which was to do with, if you like, an excellent opportunity provided by the visit of General Obering, and since there are many questions from our Russian colleagues, but I would say that there were also, in that meeting, many questions which were posed by the allies, which also refer, if you like, to the dimension which can be described as a NATO dimension.

So, you know, in the simplest form, and the most honest answer to your question I can only provide is that, you know, that is... watch that space. There will be discussions, there will be exchanges. There will be, you know, maybe some initiatives. I don't know. That is a subject which is considered a very important one whether for Oslo that you mentioned, whether for other meetings. That will definitely be pursued.

As far as the TMD's concerned, well, that is the NATO-Russia Council Theatre Missile Defence who had a number of, as you'll remember, exercises, work on terminology, etc. Well, we are at the certain point that indeed it's not just an experts issue, it's a matter, often, if you like, political, some political decisions.

And I think if I was judging by the tone, by the atmospherics of today's meeting where the catch phrases were really transparently willingness to look forward, common threat analyses, and also I've heard some very specific, if you like, invitations, particularly from the U.S. I would not like to speak on their behalf, but, you know, inviting Russian experts here and also what we're hearing from the allies.

I think, that project still has a very big potential in front of it. So I don't know how exactly the story will unfold, but when it's clear that all those different elements play a role and there is a willingness to look into the ways in which this can be brought forward.

The very last question you posed about the fifth generation of anti... that was not, at least mentioned today, but again, there are various opportunities, various technical groups in which such issues can be brought about and the people who actually know much more about it than me can have a juicy discussion about this.