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Ministers,
Excellencies,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
I would like to open this first ever EAPC Security Forum by extending a warm welcome to all of you gathered in this room today: The Foreign Ministers, Heads of Delegation and senior officials from NATO and Partner countries; our specially invited guests who have kindly agreed to come as speakers and discussants; the many representatives of civil society, including distinguished Parliamentarians; and the representatives of the press and media.
This Forum is the first of its kind – a first effort by NATO to engage Allies and Partners in a high-level, yet informal debate on the key challenges and policy choices that we face. More than that – it is a first, unprecedented effort to engage in this debate governments as well as the public.
Managing security requires more than meetings in military compounds and closed conference rooms. It also requires the involvement of civil society – from the academic community to the media. The format of this Forum reflects this broader understanding of security today.
Let me also thank our Swedish hosts for inviting us all to come here to Åre in this beautiful setting. The excellent Swedish hospitality we are enjoying has helped to establish the openness and the informality which are so essential to a lively and productive debate. Let me therefore once again express our gratitude to the Government of Sweden and the Swedish Foreign Minister, Laila Freivalds, for hosting our meeting.
As Secretary General of NATO and Chairman of the Euro-Atlantic Partnership Council it is my honour to be the first speaker today. In just a few moments I will open our discussions by giving you my views on the theme of our discussion: “Managing Security – Our Common Challenge”. Before I do so however, allow me to introduce the two other keynote speakers for this plenary session.
First, the Foreign Minister of Sweden, our host, Laila Freivalds. She has had an impressive and diverse career involving senior positions in politics as well as in civil society. A lawyer by training, Laila Freivalds has been Minister of Justice twice here in Sweden as well as the Director of the Swedish Performing Arts Society and the Director-General of the National Board for Consumer Policies and Consumer Ombudsman. This testifies to her broad range of experience and interests. She has been the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Sweden since 2003.
Our third keynote speaker this morning is Kemal Dervi ş , who is the Administrator-Designate of the UN Development Programme. Mr Dervi ş has also had a distinguished career; in his case he has been Minister of Economic Affairs of Turkey where he was the architect of Turkey’s economic reforms. For many years he was a senior official at the World Bank, rising to the position of Vice President. Mr Dervi ş is well-known on the Brussels scene as someone who has worked hard and successfully to bring Turkey closer to the European Union.
On behalf of NATO and the EAPC I would like to thank my two fellow keynote speakers for being with us here today and I know that everybody is looking forward to what they are going to say.