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Updated: 19-Nov-2001 Week of 17-23 February 1999

   
17 Feb. 1999
NATO-Russia Permanent Joint Council discusses the situation in Bosnia and Herzegovina and in Kosovo, stressing the importance of peace talks at Rambouillet and urging the parties to work responsibly and intensively to achieve
an interim political agreement.
   
17 Feb. 1999
Both houses of the Polish parliament vote overwhelmingly in favour of NATO membership.
   
17 Feb. 1999
First PfP Training Centre
Last week, the Partnership for Peace (PfP) Training Centre in Ankara became the first facility that has been officially designated as such by NATO. The Centre aims to enhance military cooperation and interoperability, that is to say, equipment compatibility and practical working conditions between the armed forces of NATO and Partner countries.

The Centre has been designated as a PfP Training Centre in accordance with the Concept for PfP Training Centres adopted in November 1998 by the North Atlantic Council -NATO's highest decision-making body. The Concept allows national high quality training facilities to apply for recognition by the North Atlantic Council as a PfP Training Centre. The recognised PfP Training Centres offer courses and other training opportunities to the 44 member countries of the Euro-Atlantic Partnership Council.
18 Feb. 1999
Secretary General in Skopje and Sarajevo

On 18-19 February, NATO Secretary, Dr Javier Solana, and General Wesley Clark went to Skopje to discuss the Kosovo crisis with President Kiro Gligorov and Prime Minister Ljubco Georgievski of the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (1). They then proceeded to visit NATO's Extraction Force based in Kumanovo before flying to Sarajevo to meet the three-member presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the High Representative Ambassador Westendorp as well as other representatives of international agencies involved in the implementation of the Peace Accords.

1. Turkey recognises the Republic of Macedonia with its constitutional name.

23 Feb. 1999
Kosovo
Following the conclusion of the Rambouillet talks, NATO Secretary General, Dr Javier Solana, issued a statement, the main points of which are summarised below.

NATO welcomes the substantial progress made in the Kosovo Peace Talks in Rambouillet and looks forward to the Implementation Conference on 15th March, 1999. In the meantime it calls upon the parties to respect the cease-fire, refrain from all provocations and carry out their obligations under the UNSC resolutions on Kosovo. The Federal Republic of Yugoslavia must also comply fully with the commitments made last year to NATO in respect of levels of forces in Kosovo.

NATO remains ready to lead a multi-national peacekeeping force with broad participation to implement and enforce the military aspects of an interim agreement and to contribute to creating an environment for the implementation of the civil aspects. The Secretary General has called upon both parties to build on the considerable progress achieved at Rambouillet and to seize the opportunity to achieve a lasting peace.