04 December 2003
Robertson Says NATO Preparing to Provide Security Outside Kabul
Statements from Dec. 4 meeting of North Atlantic Council foreign ministers
NATO Secretary General Lord Robertson announced December 4 that the alliance has "found the critical parts ... including attack and transport helicopters," needed to provide security in Kabul, Afghanistan, and is preparing to expand security outside Kabul.
Robertson's comments came in a statement to the press after a meeting of North Atlantic Council (NAC) foreign ministers at NATO headquarters in Brussels, and in remarks a short while earlier at the beginning of the NAC session. NATO heads the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan.
He recapped NATO's achievements since it agreed to major transformations at its 2002 summit in Prague, including membership invitations to seven countries.
"In one year, the truly transformed NATO has gone from promises at Prague to action on the ground, delivering real security from Kosovo to Kabul," Robertson said.
"At Prague, we committed NATO to new missions. Today, NATO troops are stabilising Kabul and preparing to move beyond the capital. NATO warships protect Mediterranean shipping against terrorist attack. NATO planners are helping the Polish-led division in Iraq."
He said no one at the ministerial ruled out a wider NATO role in Iraq "when the time is right," and that this "might well be an issue" for the NATO summit in Istanbul in June 2004.
It was Robertson's last ministerial before stepping down as NATO secretary general at the end of 2003. He said the alliance is entering the new year "busy, useful and very, very necessary" with its new out-of-area missions and its new emphasis on producing "usable and deployable forces to break terrorism, build stability and bring peace."
Robertson paid tribute to "the men and women in uniform who have placed their lives on the line to put the decisions taken here into practice in the field."
"This is a new NATO," he said, "and they have built it."
Following are Robertson's statement to the press and his opening statement to the NAC ministerial:
(begin text)
NATO HQ Brussels
Speeches
4 December 2003
STATEMENT TO THE PRESS BY SECRETARY GENERAL LORD ROBERTSON FOLLOWING NORTH ATLANTIC COUNCIL (NAC) FOREIGN MINISTERS MEETING
Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen.
We have had an extremely good meeting. As in all the best families, NATO's Foreign Ministers were frank and open with each other. That is our strength.
The Alliance enters 2004 busy, useful and very, very necessary.
In one year, the truly transformed NATO has gone from promises at Prague to action on the ground, delivering real security from Kosovo to Kabul.
Look at the record as we begin our preparations for next June's Istanbul Summit.
At Prague we invited seven countries to join the Alliance. Today they sat at the NATO table and for the first time associated themselves with our communique. Next year they will be full members.
At Prague we said NATO needed new partnerships. Now, we are talking about a partnership with the EU on the ground in Bosnia based on Berlin Plus.
Later today, we will focus on real cooperation with both the EU and Russia, which is growing all the time yet would have been inconceivable before our 2002 transformation.
Looking further ahead, our Istanbul Summit agenda will include the strengthening of our relationships with Ukraine, EAPC Partners and the Mediterranean Dialogue countries.
At Prague, we said that NATO would get new capabilities. Earlier this week, Defence Ministers showcased major progress in NATO's military transformation, from the drawing board in Prague to reality in only thirteen months.
That momentum will be maintained to Istanbul and beyond, together with our new emphasis on producing usable and deployable forces to break terrorism, build stability and bring peace. In the modern world, your credibility is based on your capability.
At Prague, we committed NATO to new missions. Today, NATO troops are stabilising Kabul and preparing to move beyond the capital. NATO warships protect Mediterranean shipping against terrorist attack. NATO planners are helping the Polish-led division in Iraq.
NATO has always delivered success. Foreign Ministers are determined that NATO will succeed in these new missions.
We have proved in the Balkans that we can build peace and order out of chaos in the most difficult places. Afghanistan poses new and difficult challenges but NATO will meet them.
The latest challenge was met this morning when I was delighted to announce that we have now found the critical parts of what NATO needs to do its job in Kabul, including attack and transport helicopters. My thanks go to all of the countries who have delivered what is required to make ISAF safe and effective.
As always, NATO delivers.
I said at the outset that Foreign Ministers were frank and open with each other.
That is why we were able to talk very constructively today about complex issues such as Iraq and European Defence.
On European Defence, transparency between the EU and NATO is essential.
After today's discussion, I am confident that the end result will avoid any unnecessary duplication, and will strengthen both NATO and the EU. I am so confident because any other outcome would be senseless for both organisations and their members.
On Iraq, no one is ruling out a wider NATO role when the time is right. This might well be an issue for Istanbul.
At Istanbul, Jaap de Hoop Scheffer will be in the NATO chair. I have had an extraordinary four years as Secretary General.
In the Balkans, NATO has kept the peace and stopped wars from starting. We declared Article 5 and took NATO into the war on terror. We broke down the final stereotypes of the Cold War.
We designed and implemented the Alliance's most profound transformation ever. We changed NATO and the EU from strangers into partners. Finally, we took NATO out of area instead of out of business.
I pay the strongest possible tribute to the nations who have driven this most radical of transformations and to the staff here who have implemented it. Most of all, I pay tribute to the men and women in uniform who have placed their lives on the line to put the decisions taken here into practice in the field.
This is a new NATO and they have built it.
(end Robertson statement to press)
(begin Robertson statement to North Atlantic Council)
NATO HQ Brussels
Speeches
04-Dec-2003
Meeting of the North Atlantic Council in Foreign Ministerial Session
Opening statement by NATO Secretary General, Lord Robertson
Ministers, Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen,
Good morning, and a warm welcome to this meeting of the North Atlantic Council in Foreign Ministers' session, especially to those who join us for the first time in this setting: Minister Teresa Gouveia of Portugal, Minister Bernard Bot of the Netherlands and the Ministers of the 7 countries that will soon join the Alliance: Solomon Passy, Kristiina Ojuland, Sandra Kalniete, Antanas Valionis, Mircea Geoana, Eduard Kukan and Dimitrij Rupel.
As usual in NATO, our agenda is a demanding one. Following this morning's session, at which we will begin preparations for next June's Istanbul Summit, and a working lunch discussion on transatlantic relations, we will have meetings with Foreign Ministers from Russia, the EU, Ukraine and the Euro-Atlantic Partners.
The presence here of the invitee countries and the breadth of the subsequent meetings illustrates graphically two of the main themes of last year's Prague transformation Summit: new members and new partners.
This is a new NATO. Not only new members and new partners but new missions and new capabilities, delivering real security from Kosovo to Kabul.
NATO troops in the Balkans are helping that region back into the European mainstream, and proving that building peace and order out of chaos is achievable even in the most difficult places. NATO ships are still patrolling the Mediterranean against terrorists. In Afghanistan, NATO's ISAF operation is stabilizing Kabul and providing the platform for real political progress, and NATO is now preparing to move outside the capital.
And the radical reform of this Headquarters has been completed.
Earlier this week, NATO Defence Ministers showcased major progress in delivering the Alliance's military transformation, translated from the drawing board in Prague to reality only twelve months later.
Success of course brings its own challenges. These challenges will need to be confronted as we prepare for Istanbul. They must be met if we are to repeat in the 21st century NATO's unbroken record of success during its first 54 years.
That means continuing our focus on the Western Balkans, where we should be able to extend our cooperation with the European Union in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
NATO's partnership with the European Union, and with Russia, must have real substance. But we also need to consider how to enhance our other relationships, including with Ukraine and the Mediterranean Dialogue countries.
NATO must play its full part in defeating terrorism. Terrorist atrocities on our streets, such as the recent attacks in Istanbul, are obscene and unacceptable; so for this and other missions, our armed forces must become genuinely usable, and NATO governments need the political will to deploy them in significantly larger numbers.
We must repeat NATO's Balkan success in Afghanistan. That means staying the course. If we fail, Afghanistan and its problems will soon appear on all of our doorsteps.
But NATO does not fail. Indeed, I am delighted to be able to announce this morning that we have now filled the critical parts of what ISAF needs in Kabul. I am extremely grateful to those many countries around this table who have helped us to do so.
Finally, the Alliance must continue to help NATO countries who take on leadership roles in Iraq, and prepare itself to take on new roles and missions where necessary.
NATO is more active and engaged than ever before, and I have no doubt that it will meet all of these challenges successfully. This is an Alliance that delivers.
For me, the past four years have been the most rewarding I could ever imagine. But it is your governments that have made NATO's transformation possible. So your former colleague, Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, will need the same support from you in the coming years. I am sure that he will get it.
(end text)
(Distributed by the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)
This page printed from: http://usinfo.state.gov/xarchives/display.html?p=washfile-english&y=2003&m=December&x=20031204132431osnhojac0.6014826&t=usinfo/wf-latest.html
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