Opening remarks by NATO Secretary General, Jaap de Hoop Scheffer

Ministers, Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen,

Bonjour. Dobriy Dyen’. Good afternoon. Welcome to this NATO-Russia Council in Defence Ministers’ informal session.

This morning, when we met at 26, we paid tribute to all the victims of terrorism. It goes without saying that we also want to associate our Russian friends with this tribute and therefore, I would like to ask you, as NRC, to observe a minute of silence in memory of all terror victims.

Our informal discussion today will provide a timely and welcome opportunity for an exchange of views on the state of NATO-Russia defence co-operation.

It will allow us to look at the year ahead and compare notes on what we regard as our priorities for 2006.

We are doing this against the background of a solid record of achievements in the NRC framework on defence and military issues.

Building on these accomplishments, I believe our focus should remain fixed on making the NATO-Russia partnership increasingly operational. We should do what is necessary to develop further our ability to work and act together.

Today, we will exchange views on developing further our cooperation on Afghanistan. In particular, we will look into ways of intensifying our cooperation against threats posed by narcotics trafficking.

Nous discuterons de questions opérationnelles comme les Balkans, l'Iraq et le Darfur, ainsi que d'autres sujets internationaux d'intérêt commun. Notre réunion aujourd'hui offrira également une opportunité bienvenue pour explorer des pistes de coopération pratique supplémentaires entre l'OTAN et la Russie.

Dans ce cadre, nos efforts conjoints dans la lutte contre le terrorisme demeurent une priorité absolue. A ce titre, nous ferons le point sur l'importante contribution de la Russie à l'opération maritime anti-terroriste Active Endeavour en Méditerranée.