Creating community of trust and understanding: multilateral institutions and international security
Opening Adress by the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of
Slovenia, Dr Dimitrij Rupel
International conference by the EastWest Institute
Brdo, Slovenia, 26 July 2003
Please allow me first to welcome, on behalf of the President of the
Republic of Slovenia, Dr Janez Drnovsek, Mr Alexey Kudrin, Deputy
Prime Minister of the Russian Federation, Mr Jan Kubish, Secretary
General of the OSCE, Mr Martti Ahtisaari, Co-Chairman of the Board of
Directors of the EastWest Institute and former President of Finland,
Mr John Edwin Mroz, President and founder of the EastWest Institute
and all the participants at today's conference. Enlargements of the
EU and NATO to the East represent an important milestone in the
development of the international community in the years to come. At
the same time positive relations between the EU, the Russian
Federation and the United States are essential for preserving security
of the international community.
During the first Summit meeting between the Presidents of the
Russian Federation and the United States of America, Mr Putin and Mr
Bush, which took place in Brdo in June 2001 a new impetus was given to
the relations between the East and the West. At this encounter, the
idea for the meeting of high level representatives of the East and the
West was first expressed. Nowadays the international community is
facing new threats that were unknown before or to which insufficient
attention was paid to remove them. As a consequence of the Cold War
and the fall of the Berlin Wall the international community found
itself in a critical moment as regards the coping with security
challenges of the new millennium.
September 11 marked a permanent shift in the way we regard our
security, the way we approach security building and certainly, a shift
in the way we interact with the existing multilateral security
mechanisms. Today, our gravest threats are those that are unknown to
us; unlike a decade and a half ago, when threat assessment was
calculable and risk analysis rational.
Invariably, the international system will have to adapt -- in many
ways it already is adapting -- to the security realities of the 21st
Century. The sobering truth is that the various multilateral
institutions existing to provide and promote our security no longer
function to the optimum. In the past years, a slide in efficiency and
effectiveness in which these multilateral systems can and do serve
individual member states, was noticeable. We followed that very
closely during the wars in the Balkans. It's time for a new reality
check, and a reassessment of the existing. There is already more
efficient and coordinated approach of international institutions in
the region, which needs to be even further improved in order to secure
better life to the people of this region.
The UN, obviously the single most extensive multilateral structure
available today, must be strengthened, and made a central player in
this 21st Century security paradigm. However we must first, 'outfit'
it accordingly. Even at times of most acute international crises, the
United Nations remains the focal point of international dialogue and a
universal forum of collective security. The United Nations remains a
symbol of multilateralism. It is in our common interest, and also our
common task to carry out reforms that will strengthen its role of an
effective and efficient multilateral instrument. The credibility and
responsibility of the United Nations Security Council, as an organ
with prime responsibility for the preservation of international peace
and security, must therefore be consolidated and strengthened. As the
president of the Security Council, in November 1999, we encouraged
Security Council to take up the issue of prevention of conflicts. As
the member of the Human Security Network we are fully committed to
extend the responsibility of international community to protect
civilians in armed conflicts. Slovenia is committed to strengthen
further the role of UN in both areas. The United Nations must also
improve its capability of conducting peace-keeping operations as a
special sphere of activity.
The changes are not limited only to the United Nations. The EU and
NATO themselves are facing landmark decisions in view of the
forthcoming enlargement and recent developments in the world. In
order to be able to perform its tasks globally, NATO must adapt to
basic change in the international community - to the emergence of new
threats (global terrorism and proliferations of weapons of mass
destruction), originating in the area outside of Europe, that is
outside of the traditional area of the Alliance's activities.
NATO will maintain its credibility in ensuring peace and security
of its member states only if it is capable of performing its tasks
globally.
The EU, too, took upon reforms. The European Union has done a great
deal already -- through the work of the Convention and individual
presidencies - to transcend into a coherent and strategic global
player. The Union today is engaged in a process of political
deepening; the consequence of which is no doubt a renewed push on the
ESDP and CFSP fronts. Today, there exists a growing consensus inside
Europe that to play a more effective international player, and a
strong trans-Atlantic partner, the EU needs a far more pro-active,
consistent, and engaging foreign policy. Slovenia takes an active part
in the European Security and Defence Policy and welcomes the progress
made in this area. It is clear that stability of the European
continent remains the priority of the EU; however, on account of its
economic and political power, the EU must assume its share of
responsibility for solving crises in other regions of the world. To be
secure, Europe must have both the will and the means to act beyond the
Balkans.
Today, the OSCE represents an important link between the East and
the West. The adaptation of the OSCE to security challenges of the new
millennium and to the new security environment is a logical evolution
of the Organisation, which does not necessarily demand drastic
changes. The OSCE has undoubtedly proven that it is able to survive by
adapting its institutional structure, mechanisms, instruments and
procedures.
The further width and depth of the adaptation process and growth
will be to a large extent determined by the OSCE's role in the system
of Euro-Atlantic security. Slovenia as Chair-in-office of the OSCE for
2005 will consider these challenges before the OSCE as one of its
priorities.
The OSCE cooperates well with other international organisations,
particularly with the EU and NATO, both at the institutional level and
in the field. The deficiency at the institutional level lies in the
absence of a common harmonised doctrine of acting that would define
relationships between them, sharing of work, area of specialisation,
etc. The latter is solved by the OSCE and the other two international
organisations relatively efficiently in the field on an ad hoc basis.
Ladies and Gentlemen, I am confident that today's discussion,
organised by the East West Institute and the Office of the President
of the Republic of Slovenia, will demonstrate that ensuring efficient
international security requires careful and close cooperation between
international institutions. We can only confront new challenges and
threats with joint and coordinated action.
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