Transatlantic Security
Back to the main
page on Transatlantic Security
NATO
US NATO Ambassador Outlines Measures to Strengthen
Relations with Partners
23 March 1999
By Tasos Kokkinides
In a speech at the European Institute on 16 March, Alexander
Vershbow, US Ambassador to NATO, outlined measures to develop
close ties with partner countries and revealed that a document
called "Political-Military Framework" will be adopted.
Excerpts from his speech:
A further step to be taken at the Summit will be to articulate
new and closer operational ties between NATO and Partner countries
in responding to crises in Europe. As we have seen in Bosnia
and in Kosovo, when NATO acts to deal with instability outside
its borders, it will usually seek the participation of non-Allies
as contributors to a NATO-led operation.
To facilitate this, NATO has developed together with Partners
a document that explains how Partners will be involved --
not only by their putting troops on the ground -- but in the
operational planning, political direction and military command
arrangements of future NATO-led crisis response operations.
This document -- which has been given the catchy title of
the "Political-Military Framework" -- will be the centerpiece
of "Day Two" at the Summit, when leaders from 44 countries
will participate in the largest ever summit meeting in Washington,
the Summit of the Euro-Atlantic Partnership Council. A further
document, with the even catchier title of "Operational Capabilities
Concept," will lay out how NATO plans to help improve the
interoperability and military effectiveness of Partner contributions
to NATO-led operations.
Thus the Summit will make clear that NATO is not merely the
Alliance of 19 members. It is, to quote Secretary of Defense
Cohen, the core of a larger "cooperative security network"
that links all of Europe's democracies in tackling the security
problems of the entire continent.
Lest there be any misperception, let me stress that this
new operational focus within the Partnership for Peace is
not replacing the old Partnership for Peace. For the past
five years, PFP has successfully promoted democratic and military
reform in partner nations, encouraged cooperation among countries
whose historical suspicions might otherwise run unchecked,
and helped promote and extend stability well beyond NATO's
borders. At the Summit, leaders will celebrate PFP's amazing
success, as well as marking the implementation of enhancements
to PFP made since their last meeting in Madrid (in the areas
of defense planning, political consultation through the EAPC,
and partner involvement in the day-to-day work of NATO's political
and military staffs and committees). And they will give direction
to new work in areas such as education, training, and exercise
simulation.
Back to Summit Updates
Back to Trans-atlantic
Security Home Page
|
