UNITED NATIONS NATIONS UNIES

EXECUTIVE OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY-GENERAL CABINET DU SECRETAIRE GENERAL

OUTGOING FACSIMILE

DATE:9 October 2001

TO: Mr. Vladimir Petrovsky FROM: S. Iqbal Riza * / / Director-General Chef de Cabin^T/ / UNOG EOSG y//// Geneva New York / / / f

FAX NO: 41-22-917-0002 FAX NO: (212) 963-2155 SUBJECT: Annual Assembly of the Atlantic Treaty Association TOTAL NUMBER OF TRANSMITTED PAGES INCLUDING THIS PAGE 1

Thank you very much for your fax dated 8 October on the above subject.

Your report on the Annual Assembly of the Atlantic Treaty Association was very informative indeed. It is interesting to learn that the role of the United Nations in the fight against terrorism is acknowledged in other fora.

I have brought your report to the attention of the Secretary-General.

Best regards Dy: QNU GENEVE B 41 22 S170123; 08.10.01 19:13; Jfit£sBL_#587;Page 1/3 c

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OFFICE DES NATIONS UNIE5 A GENEVE Of FICE AT GENEVA GENEVE

Telefax: (41-22) 6170123 Palais des Nations (Bureau du Directeurgeneral: 917 0002) CH-1211 GENEVE 1D Telegrammes: UNATIONS, GENEVE T&BX: 41 29 62 E 0 f d T6ISphone: (41-22) 317 1234/907 1234 /Sit

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A / TO \3i1e Secretary-General DE / FROM: Vladimir Petrovsky United Nations, New York Director-General ixWfme. Louise Frechette LJNOG Deputy Secretary-General Cc: H0ir. Iqbal Riza, Chef de Cabinet

Annual Assembly of the Atlantic Treaty Association. Held in Bled. SJovtnia 3-6 October 2001

From 3 to 6 October I took part in the Annual Assembly of the Atlantic Treaty Association (ATA} in Bled, . The Assembly was attended by the President of Slovenia, Mr. Kucan, 7 out of 10 Foreign Ministers of Group (candidate countries for NATO membership - Slovenia, , , , , and ), high-level representatives of NATO and many parliamentarians.

1. The major subjects for discussion were the challenges facing the Euro-Atlantic Community, NATO enlargement, ESDI after the EU Summit at Nice, new NATO membership, communication resolution and the functioning of NATO, the transatlantic Defense Market and military industrial cooperation.

Despite this diversified agenda the dominating topic was the new security environment and the response to it. There was a general feeling that the terrorist attack against the US opened a new wa of international relations, when fav the fivst time the states, as the major actors on the world scene, are supposed to deal only sent DV ONU GENEVE B 41 22 9170123; 08.10.01 19:14; JfilQa_#587; Page 2/3 * GVA4225

with the relations between themselves, but also with the threats from non-state actors.

The words of the UN Secretary-General that global threats must be met by global response were widely echoed, All participants agreed that so far there is an impressive diplomatic harmony in preparation for the fight against terrorism. President Kucan suggested the creation of a global democratic movement to support a wide coalition against terrorism.

The Deputy-Secretary of NATO, Ambassador M. Rizzo emphasized the necessity to recognize the new threats of very different kinds as a result of new technologies. In particular, he mentioned that the NATO deployed soldiers should have protection against nuclear, biological and chemical weapons, in order not w be deterred by a potential aggressor who might use such weapons against them. He emphasized that an International organization such as NATO, the EU and the OSCE - as well as private enterprises and Non Governmental Organizations are now working much more closely together. NATO sees the positive result of that cooperation in the Balkans but considers that there is room for much more joint efforts.

The NATO supreme Allied Commander General J. Ralston, following up on the subject of moving the NATO agenda forward to meet the new challenges, acknowledged that "we stitt da a very poor Job in predicting the future". He highlighted the importance of special relations with Russia and Ukraine. He also stressed that NATO should keep the door open to those countries aspiring to join NATO arid to provide them with military advice and analysis. As for the Balkans, the NATO forces, despite their reduction, stand ready for antrterrorlst activities.

The Foreign Ministers of the Vilnius groups especially stress their wish to speed up the enlargement of NATO and to finally settle this issue in 2001 in Prague,

Many participants suggested the necessity of new role of NATO. Some spoke about collective security, rather than defense community. The others see the future role of NATO as the risk community, which supposed to manage not only, threats from the states but also from Non-states bodies. 2. I was invited to take part in the discussions of the issue "NATO's out of area operation: humanitarian and anti-terrorist intervention and international law".

All the participants welcomed the role of the UN Secretary-General in taking the lead to develop « strategy against terrorism. There was unanimous opinion that the focal role of the UN strengthens the legal foundation of the coalition against terrorism.

A. Teamwork for constructive engagement of UN and regional structures was very much encouraged. B. The necessity to avoid double standards was strongly emphasized. C. The position of the Secretary-General that the definition of terrorism needs both legal precision and moral clarity was widely echoed. However, the opinion prevailed that in the near future a case -by-case S^nt by ONU GENEVE B 41 22 9170123; 08.10.01 19:14; Jfli£sa_#587;Page 3/3 I ' GVA4225 P3 approach to terrorism will be applied. D. There was also wide support for necessity to keep humanitarian threshold (protection of civilian and humanitarian aid) in the anti-terrorist actions E. It was suggested to use the expression "cooperation" or "imperative", instead of intervention, which could be better acceptable to public opinion.

3. I had talks with President Kucan of Slovenia and Foreign Minister F. Rupel. Both welcomed the way in which the campaign against terrorism is progressing. The President stressed the need to maintain dialogue of civilizations, which in a situation of war against terrorism becomes more important. The President intends to visit Geneva to take part in the dialogue of civilizations. The Foreign Minister expressed an interest of Slovenia to become a member of the Conference of Disarmament. 4. The Foreign Ministers of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania informed that they decided to take joint measures in response to terrorist attacks against US. In military field they decided to provide authorization to the US aircraft to fly across national air space and use national airfields and to provide full data from Baltic air surveillance network {BALNET}, through linking BALNET to NATO air defense. 5. The Foreign Ministers of Baltic countries and Bulgaria highly appreciate the UN role In supporting the new regionalism. Referring to their own experience, they said they rely very heavily on UN recommendations In developing new regionalism which is characterized by inter-linked membershipjn regional cooperation and partnerships not only of states, but also provinces. They consider that UN cooperation with European regional structures of particular importance for them, because it facilitates tnair relations with European bodies. They intend to encourage the visits of political and parliamentarian leaders to Geneva to become acquainted with UN standards on democratic, law-based governance.

Best Regards