Transatlantic Focus: |
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BRUSSELS
NATO Reaffirms Intention to Open Center for Training of Iraqi Military Officers NATO will open an Iraqi officer training, education and doctrine center at Rustimiyah southeast of Baghdad, Iraq, by the end of September, NATO Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer said June 9. The center will also help Iraqi officers develop military doctrine for Iraqi security forces, NATO officials said during meetings of the alliance's defense ministers in Brussels, Belgium. When fully operational, it will train 1,000 Iraqi officers annually, officials said. more NEWS FROM WASHINGTON United States, European Union to Host Iraq Conference in Brussels The United States and the European Union (EU) will co-host an international conference with Iraq June 22 in Brussels, Belgium, that will serve as a forum for the new Iraqi Transitional Government to present its priorities, vision and strategies for the transition period leading up to the next round of elections in late 2005. It is also intended to mobilize international support for Iraq’s government and institutions, according to a June 1 announcement by the U.S. State Department. more |
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THE BALKANS United States Resumes Aid to Serbia and Montenegro The United States is resuming aid to Serbia and Montenegro, as announced June 9 by Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Nicholas Burns in Belgrade, according to the State Department. more
Croatia Signs Mutual Ship Boarding Pact with United States A mutual ship boarding agreement signed June 1 by Croatia and the United States adds another tool to the toolbox available to both countries under the Proliferation Security Initiative (PSI), according to the State Department. more U.S. Helps Romania with Project to Monitor Dangerous Mining Sites The U.S. Trade and Development Agency (USTDA) has awarded a $293,682 grant to the Romanian Ministry of Economy and Commerce to fund a feasibility study on the development of a nationwide environmental monitoring system in the mining sector in Romania. more | U.S. Trade and Development Agency Press Release. |
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Transatlantic Focus:
A U.S. Foreign Policy Newsletter
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NATO
Moving Beyond its Historic Role, Rumsfeld Says
U.S. Defense Secretary
Donald H. Rumsfeld says NATO is breaking out of its historic role,
providing assistance in Afghanistan, Iraq and now Sudan. "Nearly 60
years ago, after the devastation and turmoil of the Second World
War, this alliance was first formed to defend against the threat of
tyranny," he said at a news conference in Brussels, Belgium, June 9.
But now, the alliance is working "in ways that it never has before,"
he said. "NATO's recent successes are due to contributions and
wisdom and determination of the member states, particularly those
countries that have only recently gained membership, as well as the
many Partnership for Peace countries that are increasingly providing
valuable contributions to the alliance as well as new energy and
perspective," he said.
Bush
Meets with NATO Secretary-General President Bush welcomed
NATO Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer to the White House June
1, describing him as a "visionary leader" under whose leadership the
organization has undertaken missions in places such as Afghanistan,
Iraq and Sudan. "America's a proud member of NATO. We view NATO as
our link, our transatlantic link to Europe," Bush said in remarks
following their meeting. He said NATO not only is a security
organization, "but it's a place where we are proud to strategize ...
as to how to promote ... universal values of democracy and freedom
and human rights and human dignity."
Remarks
on the Second Anniversary of the Proliferation Security Initiative
May 31, 2005. Secretary Condoleezza Rice Benjamin Franklin Room
Washington, DC The dangerous trade in weapons of mass
destruction can only be stopped through coordinated and continuous
efforts by the international community. The greater the number of
countries actively involved in the Proliferation Security
Initiative, the safer people everywhere will be. The acquisition of
a nuclear, chemical, or biological device by terrorists would mean
only one thing: mass murder and devastation on a scale far worse
than that of September 11, Beslan, Madrid, Bali, and other attacks
of recent memory combined.
State
Department Report, June 9: Burns Outlines U.S.-Europe Agenda
In what Under Secretary of State Nicholas Burns has called an
historic decision, NATO announced June 9 that it will coordinate
airlift support to bring additional African Union (AU) peacekeepers
into Sudan's Darfur region. Burns, in London June 6 for a meeting of
the political directors of the Group of Eight industrial nations,
told reporters that this was not a traditional NATO operation.
Burns
Says Visit Shows Commitment to Good Relations with Balkans
Under Secretary of State R. Nicholas Burns told journalists from
three Bosnian newspapers June 7 that his visit to Sarajevo and two
other Balkan cities signals a continued U.S. commitment to good
relations with the region. The delegation’s major objective is to
express “the great desire of the United States to remain very
actively involved, diplomatically and certainly through the presence
of American military forces, to help the people of the region
continue their progress away from war, away from the conflicts of
the 90s, to a better future,” said Burns during his stop in Bosnia
and Herzegovina. He is heading a delegation of U.S. officials from
the White House, the State Department and the Defense Department
that is also visiting Pristina, Kosovo, and Belgrade, Serbia and
Montenegro.