ACCESSION NUMBER:324573
FILE ID:TXT104
DATE:01/31/94
TITLE:ALBRIGHT ON PARTNERSHIP FOR PEACE (01/31/94)
TEXT:*94013104.TXT
ALBRIGHT ON PARTNERSHIP FOR PEACE

(VOA Editorial)  (350)
(Following is an editorial, broadcast by the Voice of America January 29,
reflecting the views of the U.S. government.)

Following the January NATO summit in Brussels, Madeleine Albright, U.S.
ambassador to the United Nations, traveled to Romania, Bulgaria, Albania
and Slovenia to discuss the Partnership for Peace initiative as the special
envoy of President Bill Clinton.  Under this initiative, former members of
the Warsaw Pact, states of the former Soviet Union and other European
states have been invited to participate in enhanced political and
operational cooperation with NATO.  Ambassador Albright stressed that the
United States has a direct and material interest in the security of Central
and Eastern Europe.

Although participation in the Partnership for Peace does not confer
membership in NATO, the alliance decided that it was open to a process of
evolutionary expansion.  Countries that join the Partnership for Peace will
also be able to consult with NATO when their security is threatened.
Partnership offers these states an opportunity to take up the political,
economic and military obligations required for NATO membership.  It would
represent a significant step in enhancing the security of Europe as a
whole.

Because history has shown that democracies do not go to war with one
another, the best security a country can have is that provided by
democratic institutions and a free-market economy.  To support political
and economic reforms, Ambassador Albright announced that the United States
will expand the work of the Overseas Private Investment Corporation.  The
United States also plans to start the democracy network, a 30-million
dollar program to enlist U.S. non-government organizations to cooperate
with similar groups in Central and Eastern Europe.

The United States looks forward to welcoming Central and Eastern European
states along with the newly independent states of the former Soviet Union
into the Partnership for Peace.  As President Clinton said, "Together, we
can place Central and Eastern Europe at the heart of a new Europe, an
integrated Europe, democratic, prosperous, secure and free.  That is my
commitment."

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