ADDRESS BY ANTANAS VALIONIS, MINISTER OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS OF LITHUANIA, AT ATLANTIC CLUB
Created 2003-01-22
Bulgaria, 17 January 2003
Excellencies,
Distinguished guests,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
I am honored and happy to visit the hospitable Bulgaria for the first time in the capacity of the Minister of Foreign Affairs. I had been here previously for several times serving as the first Ambassador of my country accredited to Bulgaria. Therefore it is my particular satisfaction to notice significant progress Bulgaria is continuously making over the last decade or so. Moreover, I can notice familiar faces in the audience.
I always feel good in Bulgaria. Although, our countries are separated by thousands of kilometers, we have much in common. We share the same aspirations, the same understanding. The prevailing character of bilateral Bulgarian-Lithuanian relations and co-operation in the international arena is good since both our countries are members of various international forums. This was confirmed during my meetings with Bulgarian leaders yesterday.Last fall at Prague both our countries were invited to join NATO. Thus, the relations between our two countries have attained a new quality. I do hope that this quality will find additional expression in closer contacts between our peoples and more frequent Lithuanian–Bulgarian meetings. Speaking today to this distinguished audience I would like to share some thoughts on the way ahead.
There are no doubts that the decisions made in Prague last year will make history for both of our states. On the one hand it has been a crowning achievement of many years of hard work of meeting NATO standards and interoperability. On the other hand it put the end for dividing Europe into spheres of influence. As for Lithuania, this membership will bring our state back to the democratic community of the West, to which we undoubtedly belong because of our historical, political and cultural background. The same, I do hope, is true for Bulgaria.
I sincerely hope that in 2004 Lithuania will reach the main goals of foreign policy – membership in NATO and EU. And I have no doubts as well, that Bulgaria will finish the negotiation with EU in the nearest future.What is next? What would happen after this double enlargement of NATO and the EU? What is direction of Lithuania’s post-Prague, post-Copenhagen security agenda?
One thing is clear - the strategic task agenda is going to change considerably, with its present two principal goals achieved, and NATO and EU membership transferred from the task list into the policy tools arsenal. The contents of our policy will be to a great extent everyday participation in the EU and NATO integration processes, in the development of common policies on the issues that each of them addresses.
Being a NATO member Lithuania is going to invest its security policy efforts and energy in the three main directions:(1) to participate actively in the further evolution and adaptation of the Alliance in order the Alliance to remain relevant in the changing international security environment as well as to remain a strong collective defence organization providing Article 5 guarantees to its members;(2) to ensure the continuity of the NATO enlargement process including all prepared candidates in Central and Eastern Europe and making sure at the same time it will strengthen the Alliance, not dilute it;(3) to project stability and Western-type democratic values to partners in such countries and regions of the Euro-Atlantic area, as the Balkans, Ukraine, South Caucasus, Central Asia and to keep engagements with Russia.
Ladies and Gentlemen,Let me touch upon these issues point by point.
(1) The adaptation of Alliance. The NATO candidates have to, and I am sure they will, to put all their efforts to prove European Allies that American involvement in the European security is of the greatest interest of Europe. Lithuania will do its best keeping explaining Americans the considerations and arguments of European countries on the topical security policy issues. To do so, we will make use of the means available to us, including the strong Lithuanian community in the United States and the tradition of the 1998 US-Baltic Charter, as well as on the US security support and co-operative programmes.
I do sincerely hope that as a member of NATO Lithuania will strengthen the allied collective defence capabilities with its forces, assets, and, defence infrastructure. Since the early 1990, Lithuania managed to develop national army from the scratch into a small, but well-trained, highly motivated and capable force that we are equipping up to NATO standards. Internally, we retain the existing solid consensus, across the entire Lithuanian political spectrum, on the key foreign, security and defence policy issues, as embodied in our parliamentary parties’ Defence Policy Agreement.
There is no doubt that part of Lithuania’s future policy will be continued participation in the Allied operations, as is the case today in Bosnia and Kosovo. Our special forces are in the Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan.(
2) NATO enlargement. We need to insure the continuation of NATO enlargement. The experience of the so-called Vilnius Process will be of the great value on this stage. The Vilnius Process has undoubtedly proved successful in keeping the enlargement high on NATO’s agenda and in ensuring that the co-operation, solidarity, mutual support and transparency prevail over competition in the relations between the candidates. We are of opinion that the Vilnius Process can be usefully applied transferring the experience of preparation, accession and integration to NATO of new invitees to the future candidates. In my current visits to Slovenia, Croatia and here, in Bulgaria, I invited the Chairmen of the Parliaments to attend the meeting of heads of parliaments from the Vilnius Group countries in May of this year.
(3) Cooperation with the countries East from us. When I think about NATO and EU enlargement I keep raising the same question - have we already extended the spirit of openness to the East? Contrary. We yet need to support democratic and economic reforms in the countries East from us, thereby ensuring, in the long run, their European choice. At the same time, we need to facilitate trade and promote investment, to ensure stable trade regimes and thus to reduce the gap between the living standards. The challenges of today - trans-national organized crime, nuclear power risks, illegal migration and human trafficking - cannot be tackled by a single state.
During the last decade all the new invited countries have accumulated a successful experience of political and economic transition to democracy and functioning free-market economy. Transfer of this experience to the interested countries, say, in the Balkans or in the former Soviet Union, may help them quicker and easier to overcome problems we have already solved. It will also help the to establish all inherent institutes of a democratic nation. This will safeguard us from all sorts of spillover effects of political, economic and military crises affecting some of them. We are already making the first steps in that direction in our relations with Ukraine, South Caucasus, Central Asia. But a reasonable success can only be expected in this work if NATO and the EU do it in a well-concerted effort and support it by their resources. NATO-Russia Council is one more important issue I would like to pay attention to. We already welcomed positive trend in the NATO-Russia partnership. However, much political commitment will be required from both NATO and Russia to achieve the desired results. Lithuania is able and willing to contribute to further constructive development of the NATO-Russia dialogue, on the basis of our own experience in the Baltic Sea region. Lithuania has a very good record of mutual relations with Russia, including Kaliningrad region. Already today we project our bilateral policy with Russia as a constituent part of broader NATO-Russia and EU-Russia relationships. Of course, the specific contents of these relations will largely depend on how consequently Russia will pursue its dialogue and co-operation with NATO.
Ladies and gentlemen, let me conclude.Lithuania is aware that the invitation to the Alliance is not the end of the story, and we have to do a lot to reach the final point. Lithuania is ready to overcome all the obstacles and sustain all the challenges to finish its road successfully becoming a full member of the most outstanding Alliance of collective defence.
Today Lithuania and Bulgaria are reaching towards the same goal of consolidating the united, democratic, safe and prosperous Europe. Rejoining the process of creation of the European future after a forced interval, our countries are bringing with them the profound traditions of the European culture, thus enriching the common cultural experience of the Continent. On this way I wish Bulgarian people every success.
Thank you very much for your attention!
Excellencies,
Distinguished guests,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
I am honored and happy to visit the hospitable Bulgaria for the first time in the capacity of the Minister of Foreign Affairs. I had been here previously for several times serving as the first Ambassador of my country accredited to Bulgaria. Therefore it is my particular satisfaction to notice significant progress Bulgaria is continuously making over the last decade or so. Moreover, I can notice familiar faces in the audience.
I always feel good in Bulgaria. Although, our countries are separated by thousands of kilometers, we have much in common. We share the same aspirations, the same understanding. The prevailing character of bilateral Bulgarian-Lithuanian relations and co-operation in the international arena is good since both our countries are members of various international forums. This was confirmed during my meetings with Bulgarian leaders yesterday.Last fall at Prague both our countries were invited to join NATO. Thus, the relations between our two countries have attained a new quality. I do hope that this quality will find additional expression in closer contacts between our peoples and more frequent Lithuanian–Bulgarian meetings. Speaking today to this distinguished audience I would like to share some thoughts on the way ahead.
There are no doubts that the decisions made in Prague last year will make history for both of our states. On the one hand it has been a crowning achievement of many years of hard work of meeting NATO standards and interoperability. On the other hand it put the end for dividing Europe into spheres of influence. As for Lithuania, this membership will bring our state back to the democratic community of the West, to which we undoubtedly belong because of our historical, political and cultural background. The same, I do hope, is true for Bulgaria.
I sincerely hope that in 2004 Lithuania will reach the main goals of foreign policy – membership in NATO and EU. And I have no doubts as well, that Bulgaria will finish the negotiation with EU in the nearest future.What is next? What would happen after this double enlargement of NATO and the EU? What is direction of Lithuania’s post-Prague, post-Copenhagen security agenda?
One thing is clear - the strategic task agenda is going to change considerably, with its present two principal goals achieved, and NATO and EU membership transferred from the task list into the policy tools arsenal. The contents of our policy will be to a great extent everyday participation in the EU and NATO integration processes, in the development of common policies on the issues that each of them addresses.
Being a NATO member Lithuania is going to invest its security policy efforts and energy in the three main directions:(1) to participate actively in the further evolution and adaptation of the Alliance in order the Alliance to remain relevant in the changing international security environment as well as to remain a strong collective defence organization providing Article 5 guarantees to its members;(2) to ensure the continuity of the NATO enlargement process including all prepared candidates in Central and Eastern Europe and making sure at the same time it will strengthen the Alliance, not dilute it;(3) to project stability and Western-type democratic values to partners in such countries and regions of the Euro-Atlantic area, as the Balkans, Ukraine, South Caucasus, Central Asia and to keep engagements with Russia.
Ladies and Gentlemen,Let me touch upon these issues point by point.
(1) The adaptation of Alliance. The NATO candidates have to, and I am sure they will, to put all their efforts to prove European Allies that American involvement in the European security is of the greatest interest of Europe. Lithuania will do its best keeping explaining Americans the considerations and arguments of European countries on the topical security policy issues. To do so, we will make use of the means available to us, including the strong Lithuanian community in the United States and the tradition of the 1998 US-Baltic Charter, as well as on the US security support and co-operative programmes.
I do sincerely hope that as a member of NATO Lithuania will strengthen the allied collective defence capabilities with its forces, assets, and, defence infrastructure. Since the early 1990, Lithuania managed to develop national army from the scratch into a small, but well-trained, highly motivated and capable force that we are equipping up to NATO standards. Internally, we retain the existing solid consensus, across the entire Lithuanian political spectrum, on the key foreign, security and defence policy issues, as embodied in our parliamentary parties’ Defence Policy Agreement.
There is no doubt that part of Lithuania’s future policy will be continued participation in the Allied operations, as is the case today in Bosnia and Kosovo. Our special forces are in the Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan.(
2) NATO enlargement. We need to insure the continuation of NATO enlargement. The experience of the so-called Vilnius Process will be of the great value on this stage. The Vilnius Process has undoubtedly proved successful in keeping the enlargement high on NATO’s agenda and in ensuring that the co-operation, solidarity, mutual support and transparency prevail over competition in the relations between the candidates. We are of opinion that the Vilnius Process can be usefully applied transferring the experience of preparation, accession and integration to NATO of new invitees to the future candidates. In my current visits to Slovenia, Croatia and here, in Bulgaria, I invited the Chairmen of the Parliaments to attend the meeting of heads of parliaments from the Vilnius Group countries in May of this year.
(3) Cooperation with the countries East from us. When I think about NATO and EU enlargement I keep raising the same question - have we already extended the spirit of openness to the East? Contrary. We yet need to support democratic and economic reforms in the countries East from us, thereby ensuring, in the long run, their European choice. At the same time, we need to facilitate trade and promote investment, to ensure stable trade regimes and thus to reduce the gap between the living standards. The challenges of today - trans-national organized crime, nuclear power risks, illegal migration and human trafficking - cannot be tackled by a single state.
During the last decade all the new invited countries have accumulated a successful experience of political and economic transition to democracy and functioning free-market economy. Transfer of this experience to the interested countries, say, in the Balkans or in the former Soviet Union, may help them quicker and easier to overcome problems we have already solved. It will also help the to establish all inherent institutes of a democratic nation. This will safeguard us from all sorts of spillover effects of political, economic and military crises affecting some of them. We are already making the first steps in that direction in our relations with Ukraine, South Caucasus, Central Asia. But a reasonable success can only be expected in this work if NATO and the EU do it in a well-concerted effort and support it by their resources. NATO-Russia Council is one more important issue I would like to pay attention to. We already welcomed positive trend in the NATO-Russia partnership. However, much political commitment will be required from both NATO and Russia to achieve the desired results. Lithuania is able and willing to contribute to further constructive development of the NATO-Russia dialogue, on the basis of our own experience in the Baltic Sea region. Lithuania has a very good record of mutual relations with Russia, including Kaliningrad region. Already today we project our bilateral policy with Russia as a constituent part of broader NATO-Russia and EU-Russia relationships. Of course, the specific contents of these relations will largely depend on how consequently Russia will pursue its dialogue and co-operation with NATO.
Ladies and gentlemen, let me conclude.Lithuania is aware that the invitation to the Alliance is not the end of the story, and we have to do a lot to reach the final point. Lithuania is ready to overcome all the obstacles and sustain all the challenges to finish its road successfully becoming a full member of the most outstanding Alliance of collective defence.
Today Lithuania and Bulgaria are reaching towards the same goal of consolidating the united, democratic, safe and prosperous Europe. Rejoining the process of creation of the European future after a forced interval, our countries are bringing with them the profound traditions of the European culture, thus enriching the common cultural experience of the Continent. On this way I wish Bulgarian people every success.
Thank you very much for your attention!
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