27 Nov, 2006 - Speech by H.E. Mr. Alexandr Vondra, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic, former Government Commissioner for the NATO Summit in Prague at the Young Leaders Forum Opening - „Crossing the Bridge to Riga"

Ladies and Gentlemen, dear friends:

Let me first thank you for inviting me to give opening remarks at your conference today. It is always a pleasure to share a few thoughts with bright young minds interested in international affairs - so, thank you very much.

This conference is taking place on the occasion of the Riga NATO Summit. This summit, just like the Prague Summit in 2002, has a strong symbolic meaning. Prague opened the door for a robust wave of NATO enlargement that took place in the spring of 2004. Riga is a symbolic seal of this wave - making clear that the spirit of political and security cooperation based on shared values does not limit itself to Western Europe and that the Iron Curtain that has once divided the continent is gone for good. But just like the Prague Summit in 2002, the Riga Summit in 2006 is not only a symbolic meeting. Its purpose is to confirm the only direction of the future evolvement of the Alliance so that it can effectively react to the changing international security environment.

The discussion about adjusting the Alliance to the global security changes has been going on since the fall of the Berlin Wall and has developed through various stages. Since the early nineties, NATO has repeatedly had to reevaluate the threats faced by its members.

After the fall of the Soviet Union, the all-out war with Soviet-led forces was no longer its major concern. The series of crises in the Balkans broke out and NATO started to focus on threats caused from instability in areas adjacent to its borders, including security risks from potential refugee waves, fleeing from such areas. "Out of area" or "out of business" was a major challenge for NATO.

The rise of radical Islamic terrorism in late nineties and at the beginning of the 21st century reminded us, that the threats to our security often originate thousands of miles away and the Alliance started reevaluating once again. Today, there is no doubt that the two major risks to our security and stability are international terrorism - Islamic terrorism in particular - and proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, including development of long-range ballistic missiles by "rogue states". Neither of these threats can be contained and fought by the traditional "Cold war-style" means. Neither can be fought by solely bracing our militaries for the defense of our territories against a well-defined hostile force. "Go global or be irrelevant" are the major challenges to NATO these days.

We are aware of that. That is why NATO is now engaged in Afghanistan that is why NATO operates its training mission in Iraq that is why NATO is looking into possibilities of how to support United Nations and African Union efforts in Darfur. After all, that is why NATO keeps developing its Mediterranean dialogue and increasingly consults with partners on other, more distant parts of the world.

The Alliance started expanding its reach geographically and at the same time became more flexible and resourceful in choosing its political and military tools. Given the nature of today's threats, this trend makes perfect sense and will most likely continue.

There are two basic ways how to expand NATO's reach further beyond its traditional North Atlantic perimeter.
First, we must keep the door to Alliance open. Needless to say, further enlargement must not be driven artificially by political means but must reflect actual readiness of potential candidates. Only then will the enlargement bring about the desired expansion of the area of security and stability. To reach this goal, we must continue working with potential future members. We support the integration of Serbia, Bosnia and Hercegovina and Montenegro to the Partnership for Peace, which has once been an excellent vehicle to accession for my country. And for more we prospect the membership of Croatia, Macedonia and Albania hopefully in 2008. And at last, but not least intensified dialogue will proven its value as an effective mechanism for cooperation with Ukraine and hopefully, for future membership of Georgia.
Second, we must build and keep strong partnerships with countries sharing values as well as concerns, such as Australia, New Zealand, Japan or Israel. We should support these ties as based not only on the same perception of threats, but also on the same concept of free world and just society.

As I mentioned before, to react effectively to new threats also means choosing the right tools to fight them. The NATO Response Force (NRF) seems like one of such tools to help the Alliance adapt to the new security environment and is most certainly worth supporting.

In my view, NATO has been doing a remarkable job in adjusting to these changes in global security environment. But, what is most important - the Alliance has so far always managed to do so without weakening the crucial link between Europe and the United States and without compromising its own purpose - ensuring security of its members through cooperation and solidarity. It is the unique transatlantic bond that makes NATO the strongest and most successful alliance in the world's history and we must keep that in mind in our future quest for effectiveness and flexibility. Without NATO there will not be strong relationship between the United States and Europe.

Riga summit might not open a gate for dozen of new members, nor will it generate thousands of new troops for the new ambitious operations. But to me, that does not matter. I expect NATO leaders to send a strong message to the world - we are getting smarter and more flexible in our actions, but remain solid and firm in our principles. And this is a very important signal which I hope the summit in Riga will spread in the next days!