First Full Year in NATO

First full year in NATO

The year 2005 was Estonia’s ﬁ rst full year as a member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation. Estonia’s participation in the Alliance’s many committees of differing formats, as well as its numerous working groups, has become an everyday activity. Thus, the politicians, diplomats, and various experts representing Estonia in this international setting have become actual and natural participants and fellow decision- makers in the formulation of the Alliance’s policies.

In the course of 2005, numerous meetings have taken place involving foreign and defence ministers, and one meeting on the heads of state and government level. The spectrum of foreign policy matters and spheres about which Estonia has actively expressed its opinion during the year, has noticeably increased, greatly thanks to its membership in the Alliance.

Estonia’s foreign policy interests today extend beyond the continent of Europe. They encompass now, for instance, on the basis of the Istanbul Cooperation Initiative, the states of the Wider Middle East, or, on the other hand, the states participating in the programme known as the Mediterranean Dialogue.

Foreign policy year 2005 began in NATO on a transatlantic note. Namely, one of the main subjects under discussion at the NATO Heads of State and Government Summit at NATO Headquarters on February 22 was the matter of perspectives for the further development of transatlantic cooperation in both military and political spheres. The meeting reafﬁ rmed the enduring value and signiﬁ cance of transatlantic relations. The participants also renewed their commitment to collective defence, as well as stressed the conviction that NATO is, and will remain, the cornerstone of transatlantic relations.

Matters that seemed to arise at all important meetings in 2005 were the NATO operations in Afghanistan (International Security Assistance Force – ISAF) and in the Bal- kans (Kosovo Force – KFOR), just as did the NATO training mission in Iraq. Special attention has also been paid to the strategic partnership with the European Union, relations with Russia, developments in Ukraine, NATO partnerships, as well as to

19 2005 ESTONIAN MINISTRY OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS YEARBOOK

NATO’s assistance operations in Sudan’s Darfur province. And towards the end of the year, special priority had of course to be given to NATO’s humanitarian aid operation in Pakistan.

At the NATO foreign ministers’ informal meeting in Vilnius on April 20–21, the main emphasis was placed, primarily, on the Alliance’s strategic prospects and on expanding the Alliance’s political dimension. At the same meeting, the NATO-Ukraine Inten- siﬁ ed Dialogue programme was launched, which provides a qualitatively new ap- proach to reforming that nation, thus ensuring that deﬁ nite progress will be made in the process of integrating Ukraine into Euro-Atlantic structures.

Partnerships have been another essential matter for NATO. The Euro-Atlantic Partner- ship Council (EAPC) Security Forum in Åre, Sweden, on May 24–25 proved to be a noteworthy event where among other things relations based upon partnership as well as their further development were discussed. This forum gave EAPC participants an opportunity to discuss matters pertaining to security, peace, and stability much more frankly than at usual ofﬁ cial working meetings.

At NATO’s annual foreign ministers’ meeting on December 8 at NATO Headquarters in Brussels, the ministers discussed among other things the security situation in Dar- fur, in the Balkans, and in the Middle East. Foreign Minister Urmas Paet stressed in his statement the signiﬁ cance of democratic values in the furthering of the Middle East peace process, and called upon greater cooperation between international organizations in this region. The ministers endorsed the Afghanistan operational plan, which allows for increasing NATO’s role in Afghanistan by expanding ISAF in the southern part of the country during 2006. It was decided that the next NATO summit will take place in Riga in November 2006. Meetings of the NATO-Russia Council, the NATO-Ukraine Commission, and the Euro-Atlantic Partnership Council at the foreign ministers level also took place.

In the year 2006, participation in international operations, under the auspices of NATO as well as other international organizations, will continue to be a very signiﬁ - cant activity for Estonia. Due to membership in NATO, Estonia regards participation in international operations under NATO aegis to be a priority. This will mean the enlarging of the Estonian military contingent participating in international operations. Thus, in 2005 the Estonian Government decided to extend the participation of Estonian military personnel in the ISAF operation in Afghanistan and in the Kosovo mission, as well as to assign an instructor to the Iraq training mission (NATO Training Implementation Mission in Iraq – NTIM-I). The latter is an addition to the Estonian military contingent already deployed to Iraq, which is serving as part of the coalition forces in Operation Iraqi Freedom.