Press Release M-NAC-D-1 (2001)86 7 June 2001

Final Communiqu Meeting of the North Atlantic Council in Defence Ministers Session held in Brussels The North Atlantic Council met in Defence Ministers Session in Brussels on 7th June 2001. We associate ourselves with the statement made by our Foreign Minister colleagues at their meeting last week in Budapest. We concentrated on reviewing the situation in the Balkans and the progress achieved in implementing the decisions taken by the Heads of State and Government at the Summit meeting in Washington. With respect to the latter, we discussed in particular the implementation of the Defence Capabilities Initiative; work on the European Security and Defence Identity (ESDI) and NATO-EU relations; major challenges with respect to the proliferation of nuclear, biological, and chemical weapons as set out in the Alliance's Strategic Concept; and the Alliance's outreach and cooperation activities. We particularly welcomed the strengthened prospects for progress on the various aspects of the Washington ESDI agenda arising from the intensified discussions on the participation issue, as noted at Budapest. We look forward to early completion of these discussions which should allow finalisation of the practical arrangements for NATO support of EU-led operations. On missile defence, the United States Secretary of Defense briefed us on the United States assessment of the current and evolving threats from the proliferation of nuclear, biological, and chemical weapons and their means of delivery. We welcome the consultations initiated by President Bush and agreed that it was important that, as Defence Ministers, we continue to consult closely on the assessment of threats and the means to address them and related issues, including multilateral non-proliferation and export control regimes, as well as international arms control and disarmament. We have issued separate statements on the situation in the Balkans and on the Defence Capabilities Initiative.