PEACE & SECURITY | Creating a more stable world
07 April 2008
NATO Summit Concludes with Commitments for Future Work
State’s Fried highlights France’s decision to reintegrate with NATO
Washington -- NATO conducted important business during its 59th summit in Romania that goes well beyond its extension of invitations to two new members -- Albania and Croatia.
Besides the formalities of enlarging the alliance, NATO completed the key task of affirming its shared, long-term commitment to Afghanistan by agreeing to a comprehensive political-military Strategic Plan endorsed not only by alliance members but by NATO partners contributing to the International Security Assistance Force. Various new offerings were made during the summit, including NATO’s commitment to equip 80,000 Afghan army forces by 2012. France also promised a battalion for Afghanistan.
While Georgia and Ukraine were not endorsed to begin Membership Action Plans, the final communiqué did single them out for future membership. President Bush said the Georgians and Ukrainians are inspirational and expressed his pleasure that NATO indicated both will join.
Defense Secretary Robert Gates said NATO’s statement on Georgia and Ukraine took the dreams of the two nations for membership from “the realm of whether [they would join] and put … [them] into the realm of when.” The alliance will assess their progress as part of its open-door policy during a December meeting.
Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs Daniel Fried said of the summit: “We didn’t get everything we wanted, but we got a lot.” That included a solid endorsement of the concept of missile defense to include participation by NATO, the United States and, possibly, Russia as well.
One development that Fried said did not receive much attention coming out of the summit is France’s decision to reintegrate with NATO. Then-French President Charles de Gaulle decided to withdraw his country from the integrated allied command structure in 1966.
Fried told reporters at the Foreign Press Centers in Washington and New York April 7 that the Bucharest summit was “one of the most open, at some times, dramatic and productive summits” that he remembers. It was the least scripted summit in many years, he said, with “some of the issues … wrapped up by leaders at the table in informal sessions” during 36 hours of intense discussions.
NATO members now will intensify engagement with Macedonia, the third Balkan nation that also was hoping for an invitation, but was blocked by Greece because of an ongoing dispute over the nation’s proper formal name. Bush said the alliance looks forward to the day when Macedonia will join NATO.
Some of the ancillary issues addressed during the summit included a statement on NATO’s commitment to keeping peace in Kosovo, an invitation to Serbia to begin a dialogue with the alliance, endorsement of an alliance role in energy security and a commitment to work on cybersecurity issues.
These activities represent “an alliance in action,” according to Fried, “and what we are seeing is NATO becoming the trans-Atlantic community’s security arm for the 21st century, with potential missions in far-flung places.”
The three-day summit represented “a good couple of days for NATO … [and] for the alliance,” the assistant secretary said, “and a good day for the advance of NATO’s mission, which is the security of its members and the advance of freedom.”
U.S.-RUSSIAN STRATEGIC TALKS WILL EASE POLITICAL TRANSITION
Fried had just returned from accompanying Bush to Russia. He said significant progress was made in the U.S.-Russian strategic dialogue, particularly on the issue of missile defense. Developing common ground on this subject will be the focus of “intense work in the weeks and months ahead,” according to the Fried.
While Russia has a difference opinion on the U.S. proposal to deploy 10 missile interceptors on Polish territory and the decision by Washington and officials in Prague to host U.S. radar in the Czech Republic, Fried said Moscow has “agreed to language that if U.S.-proposed transparency and confidence-building measures” regarding these sites are agreed to and implemented, “Russia’s concerns would be assuaged.”
Those measures included discussing the possibility of having a Russian presence at missile defense facilities in the United States. It also might be possible, following detailed negotiations with the Czech Republic and Poland, to have Russian military officers accredited by their embassies in Poland and the Czech Republic serve as liaison officers at U.S. sites in Europe.
The strategic framework agreement that was hammered out in talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin will help guide U.S.-Russian relations, he said, “through the leadership transitions in both countries.” Putin leaves office in May and Bush in January 2009.
Fried said other issues of intense focus in the coming weeks will be Russia’s desire to join the World Trade Organization -- that could come later in 2008 -- and the desire of both nations to negotiate a legally binding post-Strategic Arms Reduction Talks (START) agreement. START, which was signed by the United States and Russia in 1991 and has contributed to a dramatic cut in the size of the nuclear arsenals on both sides, expires in 2009.
