FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Will Bohlen Elizabeth Boswell Rega
Tel: +1 202 294 4704 +32 (0)473 280 950
Email: wbohlen@gmfus.org eboswellrega@gmfus.org
Transcripts, audio, video on the web: http://www.bucharestconference.org/
VONDRA: CZECH REPUBLIC READY TO SIGN MISSILE
DEFENSE AGREEMENT WITH U.S.
~ Kasyanov: “Lost opportunity” for Russia-West
relations in the early 2000s ~
BUCHAREST (April 3, 2008) — Czech Deputy Prime Minister Alexandr Vondra announced on the final day of the Bucharest Conference that the Czech Republic and the United States have come a step closer in their negotiations concerning missile defense.
“The Czech delegation is meeting United States Secretary of State, Condoleeza Rice, to make an announcement that on the main agreement we have concluded the talks and that agreement is prepared to be signed in a matter of weeks, maybe early May,” Vondra said. “So why are we doing that? It's simple. It's because – and I think we must tell this here in Bucharest – we simply believe in NATO. We are convinced that the transatlantic pillar must remain strong.”
Speaking on a panel discussion on missile defense, Vondra said that he is in full agreement of “NATO-izing” the missile defense project, bringing the U.S. project within the realm of the alliance, a concept that Congresswoman Ellen Tauscher emphasized in her address to open the conference on Tuesday.
J.D. Crouch, former U.S. deputy national security advisor, was encouraged that there is now bipartisan approval for actively pursuing a solution to this transatlantic project.
“I know that any new administration is going to come in and take a look at projects … I think this particular project – that is to say the Poland deployment and the Czech Republic deployments – I think, have got not unanimous, but bipartisan support,” Crouch said. “Again, I haven't talked to them directly, but I saw Tony Lake quoted in the press, the advisor to Barack Obama, saying that they support the third site.”
The conference concluded with a highly charged discussion on Russia and its impact on NATO. Sergei Markov, advisor to the Russian government on foreign policy issues and head of the National Civic Council of International Affairs, pointed to NATO and U.S. leadership as reasons for the deterioration in relations with Russia over the past 15 years.
“It is because of leadership in the United States and NATO,” Markov said. “If you don't want to change your policy, if you don't want to recognize your mistake…the situation and security will be worse and worse.”
Despite the deterioration of Russia-West relations in the 1990s, former Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Kasyanov said Russia squandered opportunities in the early 2000s.
“In the first two, three years, we achieved quite a lot,” Kasyanov said. Citing joint operations in Afghanistan, the international fight against terrorism, and the creation of a NATO-Russia Council, these “would have led to another great idea…that Russia should be a full-fledged G-8 member and future full-fledged NATO member.”
According to Kasyanov, “that was absolutely a great opportunity for us. And I think Americans and Europeans feel the same way in the year 2002 and beginning 2003. We lost this opportunity… We Europeans lost an opportunity to create an enlarged real Europe with the safe territory and sharing the same values. It is written in our constitution—the same values written in the constitutions of any European countries.”
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The Bucharest Conference, happening alongside the official 2008 NATO Summit, is a high-level meeting of influential political, corporate, and intellectual leaders to address pressing challenges facing NATO and the international community. Participants include heads of state, senior officials from country governments, policymakers, think tank leaders, scholars, corporate executives, and media.
NATO’s operation in Afghanistan, the alliance’s enlargement, its future role in global affairs, and Russia’s relationship with the West are just a few of the current and future issues being discussed at the Bucharest Conference. The conference continues the tradition of the German Marshall Fund’s 2004 Istanbul Conference and 2006 Riga Conference by providing a platform for an open dialogue among participants and speakers representing countries and organizations worldwide.
The Bucharest Conference is organized by the German Marshall Fund of the United States (GMF), the Romanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and Chatham House.
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