Brussels, 19/04/2005 (Agence Europe)- Ukraine and strengthened political dialogue within the Alliance will be at the top of the agenda of the informal meeting of NATO foreign ministers on Wednesday 20 and Thursday 21 April in Vilnius. The gathering will also discuss the situation in Afghanistan and Kosovo.
Ukraine. NATO will recommend that Ukraine move onto “intensified dialogue” and “enhanced operational cooperation”, Alliance officials said on Monday. The idea is, on one hand, that Ukraine should specify what it expects from NATO and take stock of its progress on reforms, and, on the other hand, that concrete measures be put forward to help Ukraine in its reform process, NATO sources say. NATO “continues its open door policy” but this is “performance based”, the officials say. John M. Koenig, who acts as ambassador for the US mission with NATO pending the appointment of a new ambassador, told a small group of journalists that “accession depends on progress, and NATO has very high standards”.
Dialogue and political role. “The United States supports the Secretary General's efforts to build enhanced political dialogue. NATO should be the pre-eminent forum for dialogue on defence and security issues between the Europeans and North Americans”, Koenig said. NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer will continue in his efforts to give a true political role to the Alliance calling on broader dialogue on the political stakes in areas where NATO is involved (Afghanistan, Balkans, Iraq, etc.), a NATO official said, but also on any subject involving member nations in terms of security, whether it is the possible lifting of the European embargo on arms sales to China or the situation in Iran. The secretary general will appoint a group responsible for making proposals on reform of NATO and especially on political dialogue. The group will be chaired by a Danish ambassador. It will not be a panel of independent figures proposed by the German Chancellor, Gerhard Schröder, to tackle transatlantic relations and the role of NATO but an internal group responsible for reflecting on internal reforms, NATO sources stress. The German idea “is over and done with” a diplomat said.
In order to launch political discussions, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and her Spanish counterpart, Miguel Angel Moratinos, are to open a discussion on NATO's role in the Middle East at the dinner on Wednesday. German Minister Joschka Fischer will launch a debate on cooperation with the European Union. The next day, Michel Barnier of France will open work on the Balkans, and the Italian delegation on Afghanistan. Discussions on the Middle East will not cover concrete proposals for a NATO role in the peace process but will evoke the general framework to make reflection move forward and to be ready where necessary, in the case of a peace agreement, if Israelis and Palestinians so request, a diplomatic source states. (Source: Our publication “Atlantic News”)