of the Meeting of the North Atlantic Cooperation Council NATO Headquarters, Brussels
06 Dec. 1995
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Press Release M-NACC-2(95) 120
Issued on 06 Dec. 1995
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Last updated: 18 Oct. 2011 18:44
The Foreign Ministers and Representatives of the member countries of the North Atlantic Cooperation Council (NACC) met in Brussels today. The Foreign Ministers and Representatives of countries which have joined the Partnership for Peace (PfP) without being NACC members and the Secretary General of the Western European Union also attended the meeting.
The Acting Secretary General of NATO informed the NACC about the results of the North Atlantic Council meeting on 5 December.
The Ministers held a wide-ranging exchange of views on the crisis in and around Bosnia-Herzegovina and also discussed other regional conflicts and security issues. They welcomed the recent success of the Dayton proximity talks in reaching the Peace Agreement on Bosnia and Herzegovina with all parties concerned and emphasised that this success provides a critical opportunity to establish a lasting peace in the region. They underlined the necessity for full implementation of the provisions of these agreements and stressed the importance of the civilian and humanitarian aspects of establishing peace, including the need for reconciliation, reconstruction, the return of refugees as well as for new arms control and limitation arrangements in the area. They looked forward to the forthcoming conferences dealing with these matters. They welcomed the offers made by numerous NACC/PfP and other states to contribute to the Implementation Force.
After receiving status reports on NACC/PfP cooperation, the Ministers endorsed and agreed to publish the new NACC Work Plan for 1996-1997 and noted the new Partnership Work Programme. Ministers also agreed to publish the latest reports from the Ad Hoc Group on Cooperation in Peacekeeping. In discussing ways in which cooperation might be further strengthened and enhanced, Ministers stressed the importance of strengthening democratic control of armed forces and developing strong civil-military relations. They noted that these are essential elements of any mature democracy, while recognizing that each country will need to develop its own particular approaches based on its own national circumstances and characteristics. They emphasized the need to develop further activities to foster progress in this field.
The Ministers agreed to hold their next regular NACC meeting in conjunction with the Spring Ministerial meeting of the North Atlantic Council next year in Berlin.
