Opening statement

by NATO Secretary General, Jaap de Hoop Scheffer
at the Meeting of the North Atlantic Council
in Defence Ministers session

Ministers, ladies and gentlemen,  good morning and welcome to this meeting of the NATO Defence Ministers.

Let me extend a particular welcome to those Ministers who are joining their first NATO meeting (Aleksander Szczyglo of Poland, Eimert van Middelkoop of the Netherlands, Jaak Aaviksoo of Estonia, Teodor Viorel Melescanu of Romania, Herve Morin of France).

As we meet today, we first of all pay tribute to the men and women who take part in NATO-led operations and missions from the Balkans to Afghanistan. We mourn those whose lives have been lost and offer our condolences to their loved ones. We are proud of our forces’ achievements and remain committed to providing the political leadership and the resources they need to undertake their missions.  We are also grateful to our partner countries who help us shoulder these responsibilities.

We have three priorities for our meetings today and tomorrow: to ensure the success of our operations; to give further impetus to the ongoing transformation of the Alliance’s defence capabilities; and to continue our dialogue and cooperation with our partners. 

Afghanistan is our highest priority today. The Afghan people and government, with the active help of the international community, have made immense progress. 

What is now needed is to help create the circumstances where progress can be sustained and reinforced. 

The international community needs to continue to assist the Afghan government not only in military security but also in reconstruction, development, governance, police training and the fight against drugs. All efforts in Afghanistan, civilian and military, must be brought to bear, to achieve self-sustaining peace and security. NATO has been stepping up its commitment. 

We have increased the number of troops and Provincial Reconstruction Teams, extended our assistance to train and develop the Afghan National Army, and we are building on our dialogue with Afghanistan’s neighbours, in particular Pakistan. 

We will also address our continuing engagement in Kosovo and we are following discussions in New York and elsewhere closely. 

From the outset, we have supported President Ahtisaari’s work and believe that the process will yield the best prospect for a peaceful and prosperous future for Kosovo and the region.  We remain ready to play our role in the implementation of the settlement of Kosovo’s status in close cooperation with the UN and the EU.  NATO-KFOR also remains fully prepared to meet any security challenge in Kosovo.

Our operations in Afghanistan and Kosovo indicate clearly that in the 21st century, we need agile, effective armed forces. 

Key among our capabilities is the NATO Response Force. It was declared fully operational at the Riga Summit last year.  We will discuss today how we can sustain and improve its implementation.

Today’s discussions will also focus on Missile Defence.  NATO’s approach is based on the principles of the indivisibility of Allied security and transparency with our partners, of course including Russia.

Aux réunions de la Commission OTAN-Ukraine, du Conseil OTAN-Russie et du Conseil de partenariat euro-atlantique, qui se tiendront dans la journée, nous comptons bien axer nos débats sur la coopération dans le domaine de la défense, sur la participation de nos Partenaires aux opérations dirigées par l'OTAN, et sur les questions d'actualité touchant à la sécurité internationale.

Et demain, nous rencontrerons les partenaires qui contribuent à la FIAS-OTAN, ainsi que le ministre afghan, M. Wardak, afin d'examiner tous les défis majeurs auxquels nous faisons face ensemble en Afghanistan.