| Lord Robertson
visits Switzerland
On 13 October, Lord Robertson travelled to Bern where he met the President
of the Swiss Confederation, Pascal Couchepin, the Minister of Foreign
Affairs, Micheline Calmy-Rey and the Minister of Defence, Samuel Schmid.
They discussed, in particular, the future of NATO's partnership programmes
- the Euro-Atlantic Partnership Council and the Partnership for Peace - in
light of the upcoming wave of enlargement in May 2004. Lord Robertson praised
Switzerland for its contribution to the Partnership for Peace, of which it
has been a member since 1996, and to the Euro-Atlantic Partnership Council.
Switzerland is active in areas such as disaster relief and civil emergency
planning, international humanitarian law, combating the proliferation of small
arms and the destruction of mines and other munitions. It also provides support
for training facilities and develops activities in other areas.
Lord Robertson then travelled to Geneva where he gave a speech at the Geneva
Centre for Security Policy, which is one of the centres that actively contributes
to NATO's Partnership for Peace Training and Education programme.
In his speech he focused on NATO's transformation and described the
four main pillars of this process: NATO enlargement, with the anticipated
accession of seven members in May 2004, bringing NATO membership to
a total of 26; its new missions, which are to tackle "terrorism, weapons of
mass destruction and failed states", taking NATO beyond its traditional
boundaries; adapting NATO's military capabilities by overhauling the military
command structure, creating the NATO Response Force and committing to the
development of specific capabilities essential to modern operations; and
continuing to develop NATO's network of partnerships throughout the Euro-Atlantic
area, which is key to reinforcing stability of the region.
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