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This is the first time since December 2003 that NATO DefenceMinisters have gone through their full cycle of formal meetings. Theyhave, of course, met since December 2003. They met in Istanbul in themargins of the Summit. They had major informal meetings in PoianaBrasov in Romania last October and again in Nice, in France thisFebruary.
But this is the first time for 18 monthsthat they've gone through the full cycle, so with your forbearance Iwill just describe briefly what Ministers, what you can expect in termsof the meetings which will unfold over the next two days.
The first two meetings, which will take place tomorrow morning, will bemeetings of the Nuclear Planning Group and the Defence PlanningCommittee, and these are two meetings which take place with theattendance of all the Allied Ministers except France. These aremeetings within the integrated military structure.
TheNuclear Planning Group will provide an opportunity for Ministers,particularly the ministers of the United States and the United Kingdom,to brief on policy developments in relation to nuclear issues, thestatus of Allied nuclear forces, and a range of issues from cooperationwith Russia to reflections on the NPT conference.
TheDefence Planning Committee is the opportunity for Ministers to focusformally on the most recent review of nations' defence plans andbudgets. And this current review cycle is showing that whilst there hasbeen some welcome, some refreshing progress in developing capabilitiesand adapting military structures to the needs of today's and tomorrow'soperations, there is still a need to seek to accelerate progress, toput even more political weight behind the process of transformation.
And the Secretary General will be encouraging his MinisterialColleagues to continue to focus closely on what needs to be done toensure that military forces can be deployed at distance, sometimes overlong periods, to meet our operational requirements.
Wethen move into the North Atlantic Council in Defence Ministers session,which will take the bulk of Thursday's discussions and that is all 26Allies. And that will involve a working session, taking most of themorning, and an extended working lunch.
And there aretwo principal items on the agenda for those discussions. The first isthe Alliance's military transformation; the second is our currentoperations and missions. But the Secretary General will also take theopportunity, in addition to those two main agenda items about which Iwill say more in a moment, to brief his colleagues on the progress ofhis NATO Headquarters reform initiative.
Ontransformation, Ministers will be taking stock of the initiatives whichwere launched in Prague in 2002 and in Istanbul last year in terms ofensuring that NATO Allies have the forces that they need to meet theiroperational commitments.
We'll be taking stock ofprogress on the Prague Capabilities Commitments, where again, goodprogress is being made, but the Secretary General will press for more.The NATO Response Force; the new military command structure; and theSecretary General will probably encourage his colleagues to think aboutareas which still require a little further attention, such as ourapproach to the funding operations; a more multinational support...approach to logistic support for operations; further improvements inintelligence sharing; greater predictability in making forces availablefor operations; ensuring that we have a coherent approach to thethreats of terrorism and the threats of proliferation of weapons ofmass destruction; looking at how NATO, when it is engaged inoperations, can best interact with the civilian agencies which areworking alongside it for stabilization and reconstruction efforts; andcontinuing to build closer relationships with the European Union.
As far as operations are concerned, I'm expecting that we will focusinitially on Afghanistan. We will review progress on completing Stage 2expansion, expansion to the western provinces, and I would expectMinisters to underline support for... underline NATO's support for theautumn elections, the National Assembly elections, and the provincialelections.
I would also expect them to discussprospects for Stage 3 of ISAF's expansion into the south, and what thatmeans for the relationship between ISAF and Operation Enduring Freedom,and indeed, how NATO can best support the political process inAfghanistan throughout this year and in the post-election period.
On Kosovo the emphasis will be on the continued need for a capableforce presence by NATO in Kosovo, particularly important given thecomprehensive review and the potential opening of status talks by theend of the year.
With respect to Iraq ministers willno doubt review the progress which is being made with both in and outof country training of Iraqi personnel in support of the Iraqigovernment, and the progress with the establishment of the Training,Education and Doctrine Centre at Al Rustimaya.
I wouldexpect ministers to welcome the decisions which have now been taken inrelation to logistical support for Darfur. I will not steal James'sthunder, because I know he wants to talk in more detail about thatlater. And I would expect them also to reflect briefly on the progressof operations related to terrorism, including Operation ActiveEndeavour.
Following the meeting of Allied Ministers,there will then be a series of meetings, three meetings with partners.The first meeting will be with the Russian Minister of Defence, SergeyIvanov. That is designed to focus on defence cooperation, especially inthe fight against terrorism. We will welcome in particular the adoptionof a new NATO-Russia document, a political-military guidance oninteroperability between Russian and NATO forces, which is designed toset the scope for a still closer working together of NATO and Russianforces.
We'll also welcome prospects for the Russiancontribution to Operation Active Endeavour, our maritime surveillanceoperation in the Mediterranean. And we will review, I'm sure,NATO-Russian ministers will want to review the current securitysituation in Afghanistan, the Balkans and Iraq. I'm sure that alsothere will be issues in relation to the security situation in SoutheastAsia, and I'm sure ministers will be discussing in particularUzbekistan.
There will then be a meeting with theUkrainian Defence Minister, Minister Gritsenko, which is the firstformal meeting which he will have had with his NATO counterparts sincethe Orange Revolution. That will discuss defence and security sectorreform, and in particular how allies and Ukraine develop theircooperation in defence and security sector reform in the new context ofan intensified dialogue.
We will, I'm sure, also discuss the possibility of increased Ukrainian involvement in NATO-led operations.
The final meeting will be the meeting of the Defence Ministers of theEuro-Atlantic Partnership Council. That's the partner nations, togetherwith the Allies. That will take place on Friday morning. There are twomain themes for our discussion. Firstly, to look at the implications ofNATO's transformation for partner nations in terms of training andcapabilities and education; and secondly, cooperation between Alliesand partner nations in operations and in the fight against terrorism.
And the meeting will also mark the formal adoption of the planningdocuments in relation to the planning and review process, the defenceplanning system within the partnership.
So there's arich range of meetings which are going to take place over the next 48hours. The focus will be operations, and the focus will betransformation, which will give all of the Ministers present plenty todiscuss.