Foreign Minister Paet Met with NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen
15.09.2009
Foreign Minister Urmas Paet met with NATO Secretary General Anders
Fogh Rasmussen at the headquarters of the NATO alliance in Brussels on
Tuesday, 15 September.
At the meeting, Foreign Minister Paet and Secretary General Rasmussen
focused primarily on NATO’s new strategic concept, the upcoming NATO
foreign ministers’ meeting in Tallinn, and the situation in
Afghanistan. They agreed that the strategic concept must answer to the
problems of today, and it must address new risks and challenges in
addition to those that are left over from the 20th century. Rasmussen
and Paet said that NATO’s new strategic concept will also be an
essential topic at the NATO foreign ministers’ meeting taking place in
Tallinn from 22-23 April next year.
Collective defence is the basis for NATO’s work, which is why the
backbone of the new strategic concept must be NATO’s visibility,
trustworthiness, and the clear expression of its abilities. “Article 5
of the Washington agreement, which is the basis for NATO’s activities,
must be reliable,” emphasised Foreign Minister Paet. For Estonia it is
essential to ensure the synergy between collective defence and the
missions occurring away from the territories of NATO member states.
“Both are important and require the contributions of all allies,” noted
Paet. He added that it is positive that the working group preparing the
strategic concept includes a representative of the Baltic states. Paet
and Rasmussen also agreed that co-operation with partners of the
alliance, including Russia, is important.
In addition, Paet and Rasmussen talked about the latest developments
in Afghanistan. Rasmussen recognised Estonia’s important and visible
military and civil contribution in stabilising the situation in
Afghanistan. Paet said that Estonia contributes to the most difficult
area of Afghanistan - Helmand Province - along with British, American
and Danish forces. “Estonia has suffered losses in this mission, and
therefore one of our most important principles is that we do not want
an incorrect or imprecise strategy to cause the death of a single
soldier or civilian,” stressed Paet.
