Välisminister Urmas Paeti kõne rahvusvahelisel NATO ühingute peaassambleel (inglise keeles)

Minister Urmas Paet’s address at the 51st General Assembly of the Atlantic Treaty Association in Tallinn 29.09.2005


Your Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen,

I believe it is fair to say that our interest in seeking to increase our dialogue and cooperation with the Broader Middle East has been influenced to a great extent by external developments. Terrorist attacks against the United States, Egypt and UK among others have turned not just NATO's, but the entire world's attention towards what has been called the Broader Middle East. Despite some recent positive developments, the last couple of years there have been mounting concern regarding the worsening of the Israeli-Palestinian dispute. And then there has been the influx of refugees and asylum seekers in many southern European Alliance countries.

These developments have reminded us, in a very stark way, of the continuing volatility of the Mediterranean and Middle East regions. And of the way in which this volatility impacts also on our safety, on our economies and well-being in Europe and America.

Having said this, we all realise that these are deep-rooted, complex, and inter-related problems. We need to address the problems that create an atmosphere where violence rather than a peaceful development is seen as an alternative. These are problems that need to be addressed first and foremost by the countries in the region themselves. By politicians who show vision and leadership by people who are prepared to come to terms with the past, but determined also to shape the future of their own countries.

It is clear, at the same time that the international community has to be supportive -- through political engagement and economic cooperation.
Even though Estonia is geographically far away from the Middle East region Estonia fully supports EU’s and NATO’s initiatives in the Middle East and North Africa and sees it as a chance to contribute to the development of the region. Against today’s global security challenges, geography offers no protection. Terrorism, proliferation regional conflicts, failing states – these challenges have implications far beyond the places in which they originate.

Among the major international institutions, the European Union through its Strategic Partnership with the Mediterranean and the Middle East, the Barcelona Process and the European Neighbourhood policy obviously has a key role to play in supporting economic, political and social reform in the region. But I also believe that NATO has a role as well, in engaging the wider Atlantic community, and complementing and reinforcing the efforts of other international actors. NATO has contributed significantly to the cooperation with the states of the Greater Middle East within the framework of Istanbul Cooperation Initiative as well as Mediterranean Dialogue.

The region is very dynamic and we have witnessed changes in domestic as well as regional affairs - most recently Egypt took some steps towards a more inclusive political system, the same goes for Kuwait and Saudi Arabia, democratic elections have been held in the Palestinian territories, Iraq and Lebanon. In the economic sector, a free trade agreement between the EU and the Mediterranean states should be implemented in 2010, a free trade agreement between Jordan, Egypt, Tunisia and Morocco has already been signed and many of the countries in the region are making efforts to make their economies more efficient. But unfortunately the development has been much slower than we would have hoped.

This is especially sad since at least a part of the region is generously blessed with one of the world’s most valuable commodities - oil - and has nevertheless taken the road to progress so passively. It is richer than other developing regions, it has enormous human capacity, natural resources and other possibilities, which the majority of developing countries lack. The population of the Middle Eastern and North African countries has grown significantly during the last thirty years. As a result of this growth today 40% of the populations in these countries are under 14 years old. This is the “coming generation”. These are the people to whom the reforms have to be directed to. They will have the possibility to see also results that the reforms will bring. But unfortunately they are also a part of the problem - the region faces the overwhelming task of supplying jobs to a population that grows with approximately 4 percent per year - the reforms have to start today, there is no time to spare.

I would like to address briefly a couple of issue that seems to me to stand out as crucial for development. The first one being the importance of raising the level of education in the region in order to create a solid basis for further reforms. Reports show that the number of illiterate people in the region is growing. Reforming education and raising the literacy level in this region will be steps towards good governance and peace. Reforming education should not only include opening more schools, it includes also reforms in school system.
What can the international community do?

The guiding principle for the international community in supporting reforms in the countries has however to be respect for national and regional specifics. Therefore we need to work with our partners on an individual basis. I am hopeful that educational issues will be addressed at the upcoming summit on the tenth anniversary of the Barcelona declaration and goals such as to halve the number of illiterate adults and children in the region by the year 2010 will be set.
It is important to understand that implementing reforms in order to achieve good governance does not mean giving up culture or tradition of these societies. Quite the contrary – with good governance there appears a larger possibility to save the unique culture of this region.
And bluntly speaking this is also the way for the international community to increase the security.

Last but not least I will touch upon the importance of economic liberalisation.

Economic liberalisation has helped many countries to improve societies. The Baltic and Central European countries have made their own experience during the past decade in building up democratic institutions and reforming our economy? - These changes have transformed also the mentality of individuals and whole nations. Alongside democratic institutions and their consolidation over the years, there are, of course, also other significant factors upon which the generally positive trend of development in the Baltic Sea region rests. Among these, cooperation, which is based upon shared interests and values, is the foremost. In the early nineties, cooperation was the euphemistic term often used to define foreign aid. But over the years, cooperation spread to all spheres of common interest – in addition to matters dealing with the economy, cooperation in connection with the environment, education, health, the fight against crime and drug trafficking, etc, has grown in importance and scope. Every country has it’s own unique transformation experience that can not be copied directly, but I do believe, that certain positive experiences of the Baltic Sea region and central Europe can help us to develop mutually beneficial cooperation between the Alliance and our Mediterranean and Middle East partners and help us to find ways to support socio-economic development and democracy in the Broader Middle East.

In an ever more interlinked world we need to make better use of each other’s knowledge and achievements in order for the future generation to be able to live in a better world.