U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE
95/05/30 Intervention at the NAC Ministerial Meeting
Office of the Spokesman



                          U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE 
                          Office of the Spokesman 
 
                        (Noordwijk, The Netherlands) 
 
___________________________________________________________________ 
As Prepared for Delivery                             May 30, 1995 
For Immediate Release 
 
 
   INTERVENTION AT THE NORTH ATLANTIC COUNCIL MINISTERIAL MEETING  
                    SECRETARY OF STATE WARREN CHRISTOPHER 
 
                          Noordwijk, The Netherlands 
                                May 30, 1995 
 
 
Mr. Secretary General, distinguished colleagues:  Eighteen months ago in 
Brussels, I said this Alliance had to make an historic choice:  whether 
to embrace innovation or risk irrelevance.  The choice that we made 
weeks later at the January 1994 Brussels Summit was clear, and today, so 
is the record. 
 
At that Summit, the Alliance took a series of momentous decisions, 
building on the landmark London Summit of 1990.  As 16 allies, united by 
common values and purpose, we reinforced NATO's strength in the west and 
extended a hand of cooperation to the east.   
 
Today we continue our historic enterprise.  We also broaden our 
endeavor, as Russia becomes a full participant in the Partnership for 
Peace, and we inaugurate a new NATO-Russia dialogue. 
 
Earlier this morning, I outlined my views on the key areas of action for 
this North Atlantic Council ministerial: 
 
     First, we will review the progress of the Partnership for Peace, 
and prepare a plan of action for the future. 
 
     Second, we should reaffirm our agreed timetable for completing our 
study on enlargement, and for presenting its results to partners.  Our 
goal should be to complete the presentations in time to permit thorough 
analysis of the results before our next ministerial in December. 
 
     Third, we will launch tomorrow the beginning of a new era in NATO-
Russia relations -- a critical component of Europe's evolving security 
architecture. 
 
Let me begin by reviewing the progress of  the Partnership for Peace.  
Two years ago, the Partnership was a vision -- in part, the vision of my 
late colleague, Les Aspin.  Today, it is action.  It is British soldiers 
exercising on Polish soil.  It is Czechs and Belgians working side-by-
side in Partnership offices.  This summer it will be soldiers from the 
Baltics in the bayous of Louisiana.  With 26 members, the Partnership 
for Peace has become a vibrant and integral part of Europe's security 
structure. 
 
At our last meeting in December, we called for establishment of a 
defense planning and review process by early 1995.  We have met that 
goal; indeed, 14 partners are already participating. This process will 
promote greater openness in defense planning and budgeting among our 
nations.  It will improve the ability of Partners to work with Allies in 
future joint missions.  Moreover, it will provide aspiring NATO members 
with valuable experience in allied practices and procedures. 
 
The Alliance also agreed in December on a substantial exercise program 
that will build toward more complex and varied training scenarios.  Here 
too, we have made impressive progress.  The rigorous agenda for 1995 
includes 11 joint exercises and more than 100 other activities.  
Partners are working with NATO on many aspects of peacekeeping and 
humanitarian operations, from delivery of assistance by air to search 
and rescue at sea.  The United States will be hosting a major exercise 
at Fort Polk, Louisiana, this August, that will include a significant 
number of allies and partners.  And even as we meet, American soldiers 
are in Ukraine, training with Ukrainian forces in the spirit of the 
Partnership. 
  
We believe there are a number of promising areas in which we could 
intensify the political and military relationship between NATO and its 
partners: 
 
     First, agreement on a set of principles for civilian and democratic 
control of the military could help guide our partners in their national 
reform efforts. 
 
     Second, a joint defense planning and review process committee could 
help us explore the possibility of expanding the Partnership's focus to 
include all armed forces of the partners, not just those dedicated to 
peace-keeping and humanitarian tasks.  The committee could also 
recommend measures for adapting partners' military doctrine and forces 
to NATO's. 
 
     Third, we can find ways to enable partners to play a more active, 
substantive role in the planning of Partnership activities and 
exercises. 
 
     Fourth, we can engage partners more routinely in the substantive 
activities of the NAC and NATO senior committees. 
 
     Finally, the resources that NATO dedicates to the Partnership could 
be increased significantly.   
 
In order to maintain the Partnership's momentum, NATO must  provide 
sufficient resources.  NATO has taken the important first step of 
adopting a comprehensive funding policy for this purpose.  We need to do 
more. 
 
We expect each partner to undertake the long- and short-term planning 
necessary to ensure its own participation in Partnership activities.  
Several Partners have already included the Partnership for Peace in 
their national budgets and made other adjustments reflecting their firm 
commitment to the Partnership and to relations with NATO.  Others should 
follow. 
 
Even though Partners must bear the responsibility for their 
participation in the Partnership, we must recognize that some will need 
assistance getting started.  If we want the Partnership to succeed -- a 
goal that serves all our interests -- each NATO member must be willing 
to do its part to help. 
 
This fiscal year, the United States is providing $30 million in 
bilateral assistance directly related to the Partnership.  As President 
Clinton pledged in Warsaw last July, his budget request for fiscal year 
1996 designates $100 million to help our new partners work with us to 
advance the partnership's goals. 
 
The Partnership for Peace is firmly established as a central feature of 
Europe's new security architecture.  In less than two years, the 
Partnership is achieving its broad purposes.  It is providing its 
members a permanent association with NATO, a vital link to virtually all 
that NATO is and does.  And for those Partners that aspire to join the 
Alliance, it is helping to develop the common standards and practices 
that will enable a smooth transition to becoming an effective ally. 
 
In January, 1994, at President Clinton's initiative, the Alliance 
launched a historic process that will lead to admission of new members 
from the democracies to the east.  That process is now moving forward 
according to schedule.  NATO's study on how enlargement will occur is 
making good progress and should be completed this summer.  This will 
allow us to complete presentations on the study in Brussels and partner 
capitals in time to thoroughly assess the way forward at our December 
meeting. 
 
NATO enlargement remains an essential part of our strategy to build a 
more integrated Europe of democracies at peace.  It is essential that 
our efforts to integrate these states remain open and inclusive.  Each 
prospective member should be considered individually, on a case by case 
basis.  Above all, we must not let one set of arbitrary lines across 
Europe be replaced with another. 
 
Clearly, it is in the interest of every NATO ally and partner that 
Russia participate constructively in building a more secure and 
integrated Europe.  We welcome Russia's decision to proceed with its 
participation in the Partnership for Peace and to move ahead to fashion 
a broader relationship with the Alliance. 
 
An enhanced NATO-Russia relationship is the next important element of 
our overall strategy for European security.  This relationship can 
reinforce European security and contribute to NATO's fundamental goals. 
 
The first component of this relationship will be the Partnership for 
Peace.  As it does with our other Partners, the Partnership for Peace 
will help build our cooperation with the Russian military.  Russia's 
Individual Partnership Program envisions continued exchanges in both 
directions.  Russian and Allied troops will participate in multinational 
exercises and train together for real-world peacekeeping operations. 
 
Outside the Partnership, we will hold political consultations with 
Russia on a number of critical security issues where Russia has special 
interests or capabilities.  These include nuclear non-proliferation, 
implementing the Chemical Weapons Convention, building confidence in the 
Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention, as well as nuclear safety and 
the prevention of nuclear smuggling.   
 
We should be prepared to go beyond these initial elements and develop 
the NATO-Russia relationship further.  To this end, we welcome 
tomorrow's 16 + 1 meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Kozyrev.  We 
urge an immediate start to the dialogue on the direction our 
relationship should take.  I hope we can define a framework of goals and 
objectives for an expanded relationship by the time of our next 
Ministerial meeting in Brussels.  This process should proceed in rough 
parallel with NATO's enlargement.  As Russia progresses with democratic 
reform and demonstrates respect for international norms, we can deepen 
this relationship even further. 
 
Ukraine is also critical.  With its size and position, and its history 
of subjugation and upheaval, it is a linchpin of European security.  
NATO's strategy and evolution must take into account this country's 
strategic importance as well as its historic decision to give up nuclear 
weapons, to build democratic institutions and to pursue free market 
reform.  The United States believes that the door to greater cooperation 
and integration with the West should be open to countries that take the 
bold and difficult steps that Ukraine has taken. 
 
We must also sustain our important progress in another new area of focus 
for NATO -- fighting the spread of weapons of mass destruction.  The 
diplomacy that members of this Alliance brought to bear made a decisive 
contribution to the indefinite extension of the nuclear Non-
Proliferation Treaty last month.  We welcome the development of new 
channels for consultation on non-proliferation matters with Russia and 
other NACC partners. 
 
NATO is at the core of our strategy for strengthening security in Europe 
-- but it is not the exclusive forum.  Our comprehensive strategy 
envisions strong, interlocking institutions of security and economic 
cooperation, each with special and complementary strengths.  That is 
why, last December, our Heads of State and Government took important 
steps to bolster the effectiveness of the Organization for Security and 
Cooperation in Europe. 
 
With its broad membership and extensive commitments on human rights, the 
OSCE is uniquely equipped to address the root causes of conflict in 
Europe.  Its potential is especially evident in Chechnya -- where it 
represents the only official international presence.  As our communiqué 
will emphasize, we are profoundly troubled by the continued war in 
Chechnya.  This tragedy has killed thousands of innocent civilians, 
damaged reform, and hurt Russia's standing in the international 
community.  We urge the Russian authorities to cooperate with the OSCE 
mission to permit the unimpeded delivery of humanitarian relief and to 
reach a genuine political solution to that conflict. 
 
Let me also emphasize the continuing support of the United States for a 
more capable European defense identity -- one that will strengthen our 
flexibility, support European integration, and result in a more balanced 
sharing of burdens.  The Alliance should continue to strengthen its 
relations with the Western European Union.  The benefits of improved 
cooperation are already evident in the conduct of the joint NATO-WEU 
Operation Sharp Guard.  Similarly, we should redouble our efforts to 
complete development of the Combined Joint Task Force concept.  CJTF 
will enable NATO to conduct the full range of its missions more 
efficiently, allow the WEU to make use of Alliance assets, and 
facilitate operations with non-members of the alliance. 
 
As I said this morning, this comprehensive strategy for European 
security will strengthen our ability in the future to prevent the kind 
of tragic conflict we are witnessing in the former Yugoslavia.  Let me 
say first that our allies with personnel on the ground have shown 
remarkable courage and leadership in standing firm in conditions of 
great threat and adversity.  We all owe a debt of gratitude to our NATO 
allies and all the nations that have placed their troops and personnel 
in harm's way to uphold the principles of the international community. 
 
Later today, we will all have an opportunity to discuss the 
understandings that the Contact Group ministers reached last night in 
five key areas: 
 
     First, we agreed that UNPROFOR should remain in Bosnia-Herzegovina 
to carry out its important mission. 
 
     Second, we agreed that UNPROFOR should move rapidly to reduce the 
vulnerability of its forces, by regrouping units and avoiding activities 
that could unduly endanger their safety. 
 
     Third, we should take steps to assure the freedom of movement and 
safety of UNPROFOR personnel.  We intend to ask our military experts to 
examine promptly the specific proposals of France, the United Kingdom, 
and others with a view toward achieving that objective. 
 
     Fourth, we agreed on the need to enhance the capability and 
strength of UNPROFOR to assure that it can carry out its mission safely 
and effectively -- and the United States intends to provide appropriate 
support to that end. 
 
     Fifth, we agreed to continue to pursue our efforts to obtain 
recognition of Bosnia-Herzegovina by Serbia and to achieve an effective 
closure of the border between Serbia and Bosnia-Herzegovina. 
 
The diplomatic efforts of the Contact Group remain the basis for 
achieving a political solution to this conflict.  The United States will 
continue to lend its vigorous support to those efforts. 
 
Speaking as the representative of President Clinton and the American 
people, let me assure you that America's engagement in Europe and in 
NATO is as firm and unshakable as ever.  The United States has enduring 
political, security, economic and cultural links to Europe that must and 
will be preserved.  NATO will remain the anchor of American power and 
purpose in Europe.  We will continue to maintain approximately 100,000 
American troops on European soil.  We will continue to help preserve 
peace and prosperity for the next 50 years and beyond -- this time for 
the entire continent. 
 
Thank you very much.