Paet: Baltic Countries Anticipate Further NATO Enlargement
25.09.2009
When he met in New York with Undersecretary of State of the United States of America William Burns, Foreign Minister Urmas Paet
stressed that the further enlargement of NATO and co-operation with
countries striving to become NATO members continues to be very
important. “We would like for the circle of countries that share values
with NATO member states to grow and for the Western Balkan countries, Georgia and Ukraine to have a clear goal of joining NATO,” Paet emphasised.
The foreign ministers of Estonia, Latvia and
Lithuania, who met with Undersecretary of State William Burns in New
York, also addressed matters related to security in the region—energy
security and the preparation of a new NATO strategic concept. “The NATO
strategic concept must be based on the basic principles of the
Washington Treaty—Article 5 is still at its heart,” Paet emphasised.
“NATO’s new strategic concept must guarantee its implementation and
NATO’s functioning both on its own territory and in outside operations,
for example our common mission in Afghanistan,” said Paet.
Paet added that Estonia is preparing to address the new version of the NATO strategic concept at the NATO foreign ministers’ meeting to be held in Tallinn in April.
The foreign ministers of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania also talked to the USA
undersecretary of state about issues of European energy security. The
Baltic foreign ministers stressed that the most important step for the
Baltic countries in the near future is the diversification of energy
connections and connecting more strongly to the common European energy
market.
Paet also met with representatives of the American Jewish Committee in New York. The foreign minister described the essential role the Estonian Jewish community plays in Estonia’s economic and cultural life. “Estonia’s Jewish community has made significant contributions to the development of the economy, research and culture in Estonia. Cultural autonomy for Jews existed in Estonia
before the Second World War,” said Paet. “Since December 2008, a museum
depicting the history of Estonian Jews has been operating in the space
that belongs to the Jewish community of Estonia,” Paet added.
