Opening remarks

by NATO Secretary General, Jaap de Hoop Scheffer
Meeting of the NATO-Russia Council
in Defence Ministers session

Ministers, Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen,  Bonjour.  Dobriy Dyen’. Good afternoon.  Welcome to this NATO-Russia Council in Defence Ministers’ formal session.

I would like to begin by warmly welcoming Minister Anatoliy Serdyukov to his first meeting of NRC Defence Ministers.  Minister, we are very much looking forward to working with you.

Our discussion today will provide a timely opportunity for an exchange of views on the state of NATO-Russia defence and military co-operation and current international security issues.

Our discussion of defence and military cooperation will take place against the background of the very positive step Russia has recently taken with the ratification of the PfP Status of Forces Agreement by the State Duma.  It will open a new range of possibilities in practical cooperation which we can begin to consider today.

On the other hand we have had our differences of opinion recently, like on the subjects of missile defence and the CFE Treaty, but the NRC is an excellent forum to discuss, among friends, and to further the transparency on these issues.

We will also have the opportunity to discuss upcoming events in St. Petersburg and Moscow to mark the 5th anniversary of the NRC and 10th anniversary of the NATO-Russia Founding Act. 

Preparations for those events have focused on possibilities for cooperation in supporting Afghanistan, where our interests are very closely aligned.  The NRC Project on Counter-Narcotics Training of Afghan and Central Asian Personnel is an encouraging example of our fruitful cooperation.

Nous ferons également le point sur la préparation du déploiement, en septembre, d’un navire des forces navales russes dans le cadre de l’opération OTAN de lutte antiterroriste ACTIVE ENDEAVOUR menée en Méditerranée, et nous évoquerons d’autres domaines de coopération importants, notamment l’Initiative sur l'espace aérien en coopération.

Enfin, les Ministres souhaiteront peut-être parler des opérations dirigées par l’OTAN, notamment en Afghanistan.