Rice: NATO Summit "Historic Event for Europe, Transatlantic Alliance"
(NSC advisor backgrounds November 21-22 summit and Bush trip) (1150) By Wendy S. Ross Washington File White House Correspondent Washington -- Adding new members to NATO, transforming the alliance to deal with 21st century needs, and continuing to forge a new NATO-Russia relationship are the focus of the November 21-22 NATO Summit in Prague, President Bush's National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice says. It will be only the second time since the end of the Cold War that NATO has welcomed new members, Rice pointed out November 15 at a White House background briefing on the upcoming meeting. The first time was at the NATO Summit in Madrid in 1997 when Hungary, Poland and the Czech Republic were invited to join, bringing the membership to 19 nations. Many analysts have speculated that seven new members -- Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia -- will be admitted to the alliance at this 2002 summit. Rice characterized the upcoming meeting as "an historic event for Europe and for the Transatlantic Alliance, as Europe continues to move closer to realizing the vision of a continent that is whole, free, and at peace. "This is a summit that is going to celebrate an historic moment for NATO, which is the expansion of NATO into territories that I think nobody ever thought NATO would expand into," she said. "And that is really the central purpose of this summit. It is also the central purpose of this summit to talk about how to improve NATO's capabilities to deal with the threats that we face today." Rice pointed out that President Bush long has maintained America's commitment to a strong NATO alliance and to a robust expansion of NATO, a point that he made dramatically in a speech at Warsaw in November of 2001 "when he said that the alliance should do as much as possible, not as little. And I think you will see that at the NATO summit that charge has been taken up." On transforming the alliance, Rice said "the end of the Cold War has meant the end of the Cold War threat of massive armies contending for the Central European plains. And all NATO members today face common threats from terrorists and the states that sponsor them. These threats require a different kind of military force to defend against, a force that is lighter, more agile, and more flexible. NATO members are working to transform their forces to meet new threats and to increase the ability of our forces to work together." "One of the things that we will discuss at the summit is how to think about getting new capabilities for NATO members," she said. "You will have a lot of small members of NATO, for instance, for the first time. And they cannot -- across the entire range of military capabilities -- contribute. But they can contribute in specific ways, in niche ways to the overall military capability of NATO. So that will be discussed," said Rice. The United States, itself, she said, "is having to make a transformation and having to assess capabilities. And I think you will see that this is an issue that the NATO alliance takes seriously, that member states take seriously, and that we will make some progress on exactly this." Lastly, Rice said, "this summit and this round of expansion will be further evidence of America's and Europe's new strategic relationship with Russia, which is formalized in agreements such as the Moscow Treaty and the NATO-Russia Council. An alliance founded to wage the Cold War will once again show how far it has come since that task was completed," the national security advisor said. Asked if Iraq would be a topic at the summit, Rice responded that "of course, we expect that Iraq will be discussed and, of course, the president will discuss Iraq in bilaterals and probably in the NATO Council, as well. "I suspect that we will hear from NATO partners what they are prepared to do and what they can do," and there will probably be some kind of statement from NATO about this, she said, "but that's not the purpose of this summit." "The purpose of this summit is to invite new members in, to celebrate NATO's future, and to talk about how far NATO has come and how it remains a vital and viable alliance some 11 years after the end of the Cold War," Rice said. President Bush spoke by phone for about ten minutes November 15 with NATO Secretary General Lord Robertson to discuss the upcoming summit, White House Deputy Press Secretary Scott McClellan told reporters at his noon briefing. "They talked about NATO enlargement, strengthening NATO's military capabilities, and the NATO-Russia relationship," McClellan said. Prior to the official opening of the summit, Bush on November 20 will deliver remarks at the Prague Atlantic Students Summit "where he will discuss his vision of a Europe whole, free and at peace," Rice said. That same day he will hold five bilateral meetings -- with Czech President Vaclav Havel, Czech Prime Minister Vladimir Spidla, Turkey's President Ahmet Needet Sezer, France's President Jacques Chirac and NATO Secretary General Lord Robertson. "At each of the meetings the President will discuss NATO issues, Iraq, the war on terrorism, and bilateral matters," Rice said. Asked why Bush was not holding a bilateral meeting with German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, Rice said there are scheduled bilaterals with very few leaders at the summit. She pointed out that the two leaders talked by phone about a week ago. "The relationship with Germany is very important and it will work and continue to work to the benefit of both countries," she said. Regarding Germany's position against participating in any possible military action in Iraq, Rice said "Germany will have to decide what role it can and cannot play to enforce U.N. Security Council resolutions if that's necessary." She noted, however, that Germany has done a lot in Afghanistan, in the war on terrorism there, in counterterrorism. We appreciate that very much," she said. Rice acknowledged that during the NATO Summit, United States military planes will patrol the airspace over Prague. It is perfectly appropriate for one NATO member to offer that kind of assistance to the alliance, she said. Following the summit, President Bush will fly to St. Petersburg, Russia, November 22 to "discuss a host of issues, including Russia's emerging relationship with NATO," with Russian President Vladimir Putin, Rice said. Later that day, Bush will fly to Vilnius, Lithuania, where he is scheduled to hold a bilateral meeting the next morning, Saturday, November 23, with Lithuania's President Valdas Adamkus, as well as hold a joint meeting with the presidents of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. Later November 23 Bush will travel to Bucharest, Romania, where he will meet with Romania's President Ion Iliescu and make remarks to the Romanian people at a square in central Bucharest, before returning to Washington. Mrs. Bush is accompanying the president on the trip, Rice said. The couple leave for Europe the morning of Tuesday, November 19, and arrive in Prague that evening. (The Washington File is a product of the Office of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)
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