PR(2002) 109<br /><br />STATEMENT BY NATO SECRETARY GENERAL, LORD ROBERTSON,<br />IN HIS CAPACITY AS CHAIRMAN OF THE NATO-RUSSIA COUNCIL<br /><br />At their meeting in Rome on 28 May 2002, the Heads of State and Government<br />of NATO member states and Russia identified nine priority areas in which<br />they would intensify their cooperation in standing up to contemporary<br />security threats. One of these was crisis management, where they agreed to<br />continue work on a generic concept for joint NATO-Russia peacekeeping<br />operations. Since then, the NRC Peacekeeping Working Group has met<br />regularly in order to implement this tasking.<br /><br />Today, less than four months after its creation, the NATO-Russia Council at<br />Ambassadorial level reached agreement on Political Aspects of a Generic<br />Concept of Joint NATO-Russia Peacekeeping Operations. NRC Ambassadors<br />further agreed that work should continue, in accordance with the Rome<br />Declaration and pursuant to the NRC Work Programme for 2002, and that the<br />NRC Peacekeeping Working Group should develop proposals to take work<br />forward in this area. Furthermore, Ambassadors decided to share this paper<br />with EAPC partners, as well as the United Nations, OSCE and European Union<br />to ensure that they remain informed of current thinking on NATO-Russia<br />co-operation in peacekeeping.<br /><br />This decision constitutes a milestone in NATO-Russia cooperation within the<br />new NRC framework, and a further contribution to security and stability in<br />the Euro-Atlantic area.