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Ministers, Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen,

Welcome to this first meeting of the North Atlantic Council in Ministerial Session since the historic Madrid Summit.

1997 is a truly remarkable year in the history of our Alliance. In Paris, Sintra and Madrid we laid the foundations of an inwardly and outwardly renewed NATO, ready to meet the challenges of the 21st century. NATO's relationship with Russia and Ukraine was put on a new cooperative basis; in creating the European Atlantic Partnership Council we provided a political framework for our wide-spread Partnership activities; and we took the momentuous step of opening the Alliance to new members.


Since then we have completed the accession talks with the Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland and are ready to sign the Protocols of Accession;

the Alliance has opened new and developed existing consultative and cooperative channels with Partners;

we have had the first round of individual dialogues within our Mediterranean Cooperation Group;

we have continued to contribute through SFOR, and together with non-NATO Partners, to the vigorous implementation of the Dayton Accords and to building lasting peace and stability in Bosnia and Herzegovina;

and we have made substantial progress in the internal adaptation of our Alliance by reaching agreement on command structure reform, implementing the Combined Joint Task Forces concept, and developing an ESDI within the Alliance.

Today's NAC Ministerial takes place in the context of an unprecedented number of Ministerial meetings in the next two days - five in all - which indicates the vibrancy and commitment of our Partners to the new cooperative relationships we are establishing across the Euro-Atlantic region. After this morning's North Atlantic Council, we will meet at Ministerial level today and tomorrow

with the three countries invited to join NATO;
for the first time in the NATO-Ukraine Commission;
in the Euro-Atlantic Partnership Council;
and in the NATO-Russia Permanent Joint Council.
Messieurs les Ministres,

Permettez-moi de dire un mot en particulier à propos de trois des questions que nous aborderons ce matin au Conseil de l'Atlantique Nord. La première concerne la Bosnie. Nous examinerons aujourd'hui les résultats de la réunion du Conseil de mise en oeuvre de la paix, qui s'est tenue la semaine dernière. Nous en évaluerons l'incidence sur le bilan plus général que nous devons dresser des douze premiers mois de la SFOR et sur les directives politico-militaires que nous devons donner aux autorités militaires de l'OTAN. Elles pourront ainsi élaborer sans aucun engagement, un large éventail d'options distinctes concernant une future présence militaire en Bosnie, sous la direction de l'OTAN, au terme du mandat de la SFOR.


Deuxièmement, les pourparlers d'adhésion avec les trois pays invités - République tchèque, Hongrie et Pologne - étant achevés, nous signerons cet après-midi les Protocoles d'adhésion. Il s'agit d'une étape historique, qui témoigne de la conviction des Alliés que les trois pays invités sont prêts à contribuer à la sécurité de l'Alliance et à partager la charge de la défense collective.

Troisièmement, l'Alliance prépare depuis un certain temps une réforme de ses structures de commandement militaire, qui lui permettra d'assurer, avec plus d'efficacité et de souplesse, l'ensemble de ses missions et de ses rôles. Les Ministres de la défense sont parvenus, il y a deux semaines, à un accord sur une nouvelle structure de commandement. Il appartiendra aux Ministres des affaires étrangères d'entériner aujourd'hui, au Conseil de l'Atlantique Nord, cette importante décision.