Remarks by Minister Ilves at the United States, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania Partnership Commission

Mr. Toomas Hendrik Ilves, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Estonia, Riga, Republic of Latvia, July 8, 1998


Mr. President, dear colleagues, ladies and gentlemen,

It is a pleasure to meet you all here in Riga at the inaugural session of the US - Baltic Partnership Commission. I would also like to thank you, Minister Birkavs, for the warm welcome you have extended us here at the height of the summer season.

Let me briefly touch upon 3 issues, NATO enlargement, US-regional relations, and finally broader economic issues.

First, the top priority issue in any US-Baltic meeting is NATO enlargement. I am confident that no one in this room doubts that the enlargement of the Alliance enhances the security of the whole Trans-Atlantic space. I trust that we all agree that the NATO Washington Summit should further develop the Madrid Summit decisions regarding the aspiring members Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania. In this light we regard highly President Clinton's words at the signing ceremony of the Charter, in which he confirmed America's determination to create the conditions under which Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania can one day walk through the NATO door. In fact the partnership that we have launched is the way to this door and indeed through it. We must create a roadmap to this end and then implement it, follow it together. Since the door is in any case open we would not squeeze ourselves in but enter after our common efforts to create the conditions have been fulfilled.

Let me emphasise that within those preparations we should make full use of the assessments made by the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defence and the US European Command. The assessment should provide guidelines for all of us - that is to guide our own internal defence-related build-up process as well as to guide US involvement and assistance. This will be discussed further in the Bilateral Security Working Group.

The Bilateral Working Groups on Defence and Economic issues launched under the Charter of Partnership have made a very good start and will play a key role in implementing the principles of the Charter in defence and economic areas. Therefore we are convinced that it would be a very practical step to launch the Annual Political Consultations mechanism under the Charter in order to have the same kind of advantageous forum for discussion of various multi- and bilateral policy issues.

On the second topic, we highly value the US commitment to contribute to the co-operative spirit in the Baltic Sea area. We therefore appreciate that the US has decided to create a systematic approach to its policy and activities in the region in the form of the Northern European Initiative. We hope, moreover, that we can contribute from our side to the success of that initiative by co-operating in the identification and development of concrete projects in this framework.

Moving on to the third area of broader economic co-operation, an issue of utmost importance and urgency for Estonia's foreign policy right now is accession to the WTO, where is difficult to overestimate in the context of our efforts to join the EU. Negotiating membership in the European Union, Estonia has committed itself to follow the principles laid down in the aquis communautaire, including the policies applied by the EU in the area of audiovisual services. Under these circumstances, any deviation from the list of Article II MFN exemptions provided by Estonia is not regarded as a viable option because this would run counter to the basic principles of Estonia's accession to the Union. Presumably, a mutually satisfactory solution can only be found between equal partners and Estonia considers the initiative of the US, whose support as a Partner to our efforts to join the EU has been invaluable, to be of vital importance.

In economic co-operation, a second area where Estonia could and would like to be more engaged in the international economic community is the OECD. We consider it important to deepen the cooperation between the OECD and the Baltic Countries. Therefore it is in our best interest to bring the OECD Multilateral Agreement on Investment to a successful conclusion and to be one of the founding members of the agreement.

I am confident that we will have today a fruitful discussion on these and other issues where, through our joint efforts, we can contribute to the welfare of the Baltic Sea region.


Thank you.