14 March 2002
Baltic States to Provide Troops for Operation Enduring Freedom
(Armitage thanks Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania for anti-terror support)
(400)
Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage met with the defense
ministers of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania March 13 in Washington and
commended them for their countries' progress toward achieving NATO
membership and thanked them for their countries' support of the war
against terrorism.
The State Department said the ministers reported on plans to
contribute Baltic troops to an international contingent to be led by
Denmark and scheduled to be deployed to the Kyrgyz Republic in April
as part of Operation Enduring Freedom.
Following is the text of Spokesman Richard Boucher's statement on the
meeting of the Baltic Partnership Commission:
(begin text)
U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE
Office of the Spokesman
March 13, 2002
Statement by Richard Boucher, Spokesman
MEETING OF BALTIC PARTNERSHIP COMMISSION
Defense Ministers Girts Valdis Kristovskis, Linas Linkevicius, and
Sven Mikser, of Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia, respectively, met with
Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage March 13 to discuss their
governments' preparations to advance their NATO candidacies.
Deputy Secretary Armitage reiterated U.S. commitment to the vision
described by President Bush in Warsaw last June of a new round of
enlargement at the 2002 Prague NATO summit. He reaffirmed that NATO
will extend invitations to those aspirant countries that have
demonstrated their ability to contribute to Euro-Atlantic security and
to strengthen the Alliance. Current NATO members, he said, will make
that evaluation later this year. He reaffirmed that no country would
be excluded because of geography and no third country would have a
veto over membership decisions. He commended the Baltic states for
their efforts to fulfill their Membership Action Plans and their
commitment to devote 2% of their GDP to defense spending.
The Deputy Secretary expressed appreciation for Baltic states support
in the counter-terrorist campaign. The Baltic defense ministers
reported on their plans to contribute troops to an international
contingent led by Denmark scheduled to deploy to Kyrgyzstan next month
as part of Operation Enduring Freedom. This is a logical follow-on
from previous Baltic contributions to peacekeeping operations, such as
the Lithuanian offer to contribute personnel to a Czech military
hospital for Operation Enduring Freedom, and the participation of the
Baltic Peacekeeping Battalion (BALTBAT) in Bosnia.
The Deputy Secretary congratulated the Baltic nations on their
progress and assured them of our support as they continue their
efforts.
(end text)
(Distributed by the Office of International Information Programs, U.S.
Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)
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