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Mr. Secretary General, Your Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen:
It is a great honour for me to be here today giving this presentation on the Theme Ten Years of Partnership and Co-operation with focus on Civil Emergency Planning.
Since long way back, we have had a Total Defence concept in Sweden. It means that the performance and capability of our defence efforts rests on coordination and co-operation between civilian and military resources. This is the cornerstone of our Total Defence structure. It rests on two equal pillars - one military and one civilian. Interpreted to NATO vocabulary you could say that the civilian part corresponds to what NATO calls civil emergency planning. Our civil defence concept has developed through the last ten years, with focus from a war orientation to a broadened focus including preparedness for dealing also with severe peacetime disturbances. I understand that NATO:s civil emergency planning concept has developed in this direction as well.
Sweden is an active partner within the PfP and participate in several areas of the co-operation. Swedish capability to contribute to international peace and security co-operation through the PfP is given high priority. This is also in line with the Swedish Defence Resolution for 2002-2004, which will be adopted by the Parliament in the autumn of 2001. We consider PfP as an essential component of European security cooperation. Sweden intends to play a continued active role in promoting further enhancement of this co-operation,.
I would like to stress the importance of developing a continued active and deepened co-operation with NATO in the civilian field. Sweden will participate and continue its endeavour to deepen the civil PfP-co-operation. One ambition is to further expand the level of interoperability. Another is to identify specific areas for future co-operation. Furthermore, Sweden believes that the PfP-cooperation could form the basis for development of regional and bilateral co-operation.
The PfP-activities within the civilian field should also be considered important tools for contributing to developments of the framework for EU crisis management - and vice versa. Many of the countries in EAPC, who are not members of the EU, have useful experiences within this field and could give important contributions as regards civil crisis management.
Both the EU and NATO comprise well-developed civilian structures and extensive activities. Sweden believes that co-operation between EU and NATO in the area which EU calls civil aspects of crisis management and at NATO is civil emergency planning, could enhance the overall effect. The aim should be to develop a constructive, complementary and effective co-operation.
The co-operation within the framework of PfP is for Sweden a highly prioritised area. Sweden also finds it essential to develop the civil area of PfP and we take an active part in this development. We see the Euro-Atlantic Partnership Council as a unique arena, which offers opportunities for comprehensive discussions together with a large number of countries. One important issue to discuss within the EAPC is civil emergency planning and related areas. The engagement in the ongoing discussions for the future direction of the civil parts of the PfP and Partner countries involvement, is therefore of essence.
The continued development of NATO:s concept for civil emergency
planning should, in our opinion, to a large extent include Partners nations. Four of five prioritised areas for civil emergency planning are Partner-related. Partners should therefore be actively involved in the development of all these areas, except of course when the discussions have a bearing on article five issues.
Many different activities have been organised in Sweden as PfP or in the spirit of PfP activities. Examples of such activities are courses, meetings and workshops. Sweden organises for instance courses in the area of civil protection and seminars have been held in the field of civil emergency planning legislation and civil aspects of crisis management.
All these activities and active co-operation enhance our common ability to
participate in international humanitarian and peace promoting operations and
contributes to the creation of a European crisis management capability. This
deepened and broadened co-operation also entails an increased openness and
strengthened confidence within the PfP-family.
The continued development of the civilian PfP could include deepened
operability in the co-operation and also the identification of areas where
concrete co-operation could be established. The PfP also provides an
opportunity for expanding bilateral and regional co-operation. It is in our opinion also important to support the development within the Senior Civil Emergency Planning Committee in NATO. It is furthermore important to encourage civil - military cooperation within the framework of civil emergency planning.
Sweden has in different ways expressed its interest and deep engagement in the civil emergency planning field of PfP. Let me mention a few.
Sweden did second NATO:s Civil Emergency Planning Directorate with a senior expert for more than two years. The expert did serve as a senior member of the Directorate.
The establishment of the EADRCC was, when it was established in 1998, another milestone in the civil PfP field. The EADRCC is however, depending on secondments from nations. Since the autumn 1998, Sweden has seconded the EADRCC with civil experts and will continue to do so, at least until June 2002.
These secondments have hopefully been of great value for the development of the civil PfP-area but they have had other values as well. Sweden has, on a national level, taken advantage of the experience gained by these experts and implemented the deepened knowledge they gained during their service in NATO.
The civil Planning Boards and Committees were opened for Partner participation in the spring 1997. Sweden has since the beginning participated in the work of all these committees and I dare say not only participated but very actively participated. Furthermore, Sweden has hosted many committee meetings and seminars. Swedish Agencies and Authorities, which take an active part in the PfP cooperation, have positive experiences from this work. One reflection from this participation is that Partner countries have much to offer and that the PfP participation creates very useful networks. Another reflection is that deepened insight in the CEP area of other countries and their experiences, gives a valuable contribution when we build up our own capability in dealing with different kinds of crisis and disasters.
To conclude I will emphasise that Sweden will continue to support the efforts to develop the civil emergency planning concept within the EAPC area. Our aim is to further develop the effective and constructive work that already exists. The latest world events, has shown us the importance of our combined ambitions of building confidence and security.