26 September 1997
(NATO-Russia Permanent Joint Council discusses Bosnia) (630) By Judy Aita USIA United Nations Correspondent United Nations -- At their first official meeting, foreign ministers of the NATO-Russian Permanent Joint Council adopted a broad agenda aimed at building confidence and laying the groundwork for cooperation in the years ahead. The meeting September 26 was the first formal session at the ministerial level since the NATO-Russian Founding Act was signed in Paris in May 1997. The joint council arose out of NATO's desire to allay Russia's misgivings about extending NATO eastward and erasing the outdated divisions of the Cold War. Peacekeeping and Bosnia topped the council's agenda, those attending said. Added to the work program for future sessions this year were the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, terrorism, defense and military cooperation, and transparency on military strategy and doctrine. The next ministerial-level meeting is set for December 17 in Brussels. The meeting was chaired by NATO Secretary General Javier Solana, Russian Foreign Minister Yevgeniy Primakov, and Belgian Foreign Minister Erik Derycke. All the officials were at U.N. headquarters to attend the opening of the 52nd U.N. General Assembly session. "There should be no doubt in the minds of all the Bosnian parties that Russia and the Allies have a common approach to Bosnia," Solana said at a press conference after the meeting. "We have a common determination to achieve the full implementation of the Dayton Peace Agreement." There was no fundamental disagreement among the ministers on the need for a continued security presence in Bosnia after the June 1998 date currently set for the withdrawal of the NATO-led SFOR (Stabilization Force) peacekeeping mission, a senior State Department official told journalists after the meeting. Mentioned during the discussion on Bosnia were "the importance of the democratization process, the municipal elections, in particular," the U.S. official said, and "a unanimous view that SFOR is absolutely indispensable -- not just as a symbol of NATO and Russia's ability to work together but in a practical effect providing a secure environment in which Bosnia can put its own pieces back together." Another theme, the State Department official also said "albeit politely expressed by all the foreign ministers, was that of course NATO continues to have both its existence and its mission. But we have added to that existence and to that mission a new body and a new mission" in the joint council. The U.S. official highlighted a portion of Secretary of State Madeleine Albright's speech during the closed council meeting in which the secretary expressed the hope that NATO and Russia will be able to build trust through regular dialogue and increased transparency offered through the NATO-Russia council. "I know many Russians express doubt that their country can build a relationship of trust with NATO," Albright said. "Let me say that I do not expect these meetings to change that perception overnight. I do not expect Russia to suddenly fall in love with NATO. "My own only slightly tongue in cheek hope is that Russia will come to be bored with NATO," the secretary said. "In other words, I hope and expect that Russia will come to know the real NATO for what it is: As neither a threat to Russia, nor as the answer to Russia's most pressing dilemmas, but simply as an institution that can help Russia become more integrated with the European mainstream," she said. The senior State Department official noted that British Foreign Secretary Robin Cook said that the meeting failed to be boring but rather "in both symbolism and substance quite exhilarating." Cook's declaration that the council was meant "to contain risk" could stand as a slogan for the group, the U.S. official said.