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Mr. Chairman,
Excellencies,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Excellencies,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Let me welcome here the colleague from the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. This is a sign of true normalization of the whole region. I recall that a year ago in Florence we all welcomed Croatia among the EAPC partners. I hope we all welcome the FRY at this EAPC table as soon as possible.
The NACC/EAPC/PfP framework has provided for better security cooperation during the last ten years and will do so in the coming future.
Some remarks in this context, concentrating on the most challenging tasks and regions.
First, the issue of priorities and persistence. A process is on track as long as priorities are clear and they are pursued persistently. Since we are concentrating on South-East Europe this means that the priority of stabilising the region should not change.
It's quite natural that the process is frustrating now and then. But any sign of our frustration could initiate some of the forces involved to try and exploit the situation. This holds for the conflict in Macedonia as well as Kosovo or Bosnia and Herzegovina.
We all understand that this is not an easy and short-term process, but it must be constantly stressed that it is the only acceptable one.
Second. There is an aspect of the EAPC cooperation and experience that I would like to stress: regional cooperation and using the experience of stable regions. At our December meeting in Brussels we talked about regional aspects of cooperation. I said that: "... we can all agree that the tools and aims of the regional security cooperation can, and indeed do vary from region to region in line with different challenges the participating countries face. Equally importantly, the successes of one region are indeed transferable to others ... This success (of the Baltic region) represents the lasting effort of all countries around the Baltic Sea who work in this direction. The cornerstone of cooperation - as we see it - is the general acceptance of a common set of democratic values, remarkable transparency in discussing security issues and the good performance of our economies." No experience can be implanted in a different setting in its entirety, but some of it could be useful.
Third. Talking of the South-Eastern Europe we can acknowledge that recent developments have been marked with solid steps in building the foundation for the regions future. Through KFOR and the UNMDC the contributing countries are working for the lasting solution to the problems in Kosovo. Nonetheless efforts to create a working financial and economic system in the region are as important as having peacekeeping forces on the ground. When we speak of post-conflict rehabilitation in its broadest sense we are not talking about years but a much longer period. Estonia is ready to provide aid in the form of our experience in building up a working market economy.
Among the regions only South-East Europe has been mentioned thus far, but equally important for the EAPC and its cooperative activities are areas such as Caucasus and Central-Asia. This regional focus is highly relevant to the EAPC as we should not and can not deny any country the right of expressing its security concerns and our support to any country interested in assistance. Estonia, for example, has been concentrating its bilateral, and trilateral with the UK, cooperation to Georgia.
To sum up I would like to underline again that we have to concentrate our work in the EAPC on real issues, use the experience of other countries, stress the importance of regional cooperation and not forget that there are other regions which need our attention.
Thank you.