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Riga summit of V-10 PM
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NEDB
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Jul 05, 2002 10:19 PDT
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NATO ENLARGEMENT DAILY BRIEF (NEDB)
Friday, 05 Jul 2002, 13:23 EDT
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* V-10 LEADERS MEET FOR A FINAL PUSH TOWARD PRAGUE - AP / Michael Lyons
* BUSH CHEERS EAST EUROPEANS BY BACKING BIGGER NATO - Reuters / Sean Maguire
* NATO ENLARGEMENT WILL HELP FIGHT "TERRORISM": BUSH, BLAIR - AFP
* NATO HOPEFULS MUST BOLSTER ALLIANCE ANTI-TERROR FORCES: BUSH, BLAIR - AFP
* BUSH TELLS NATO HOPEFULS OF COOPERATIVE FORCE TO FIGHT TERROR - Defense News / Martin Agüera
* LOTT SEES BALTICS AS NATO MEMBERS - WT / Nicholas Kralev
* U.S. SENATE LEADER SAYS BALTIC COUNTRIES HAVE "EXCELLENT" CHANCE OF JOINING - AP / J. Michael Lyons
* BALTIC COUNTRIES HOPE NATO MEMBERSHIP WILL BE FRUIT OF YEARS OF PREPARATION - AFP / Beatrice Khadige
* NATO RECONSIDERS ITS GLOBAL ROLE - FT / Rafael Behr
* NATO HOPEFULS MEET IN LATVIA - BBC / Nick Walton
* POLISH PRESIDENT SUGGESTS NEW REGIONAL FORUM AT NATO SUMMIT - BNS
* LATVIAN OFFICIALS PRAISE POLISH PRESIDENT'S INITIATIVE - BNS
* LITHUANIA WANTS MORE INFO ON POLISH PRESIDENT'S INITIATIVE - BNS
* U.S. SENATORS, BALTIC LEADERS REMEMBER HOLOCAUST IN LATVIA - AFP
* US JEWISH COMMITTEE EUROPE DIRECTOR PRAISES LATVIA'S EFFORTS - BNS
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=RIGA SUMMIT OF V-10 PRIME MINISTERS=
THE BRIDGE TO PRAGUE
www.rigasummit.lv
LEADERS OF COUNTRIES BIDDING TO JOIN NATO MEET FOR A FINAL PUSH TOWARD PRAGUE
AP, 04 Jul 02, by J. Michael Lyons, AP Writer
RIGA, Latvia - Leaders from 10 former East Bloc countries were optimistic Friday as they began a final collective bid to join NATO ahead of a November summit in Prague at which the alliance is to map out its plans for expansion.
The three ex-Soviet Baltic republics of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania along with Bulgaria, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia lead the list of countries expected to be invited to join. All are looking at this summit, in part, as a celebration.
"We're not exactly popping the champagne bottles yet, but to some extent we're celebrating what will be an important historical event," Latvian Foreign Minister Indulis Berzins said.
Discussions during the two-day summit in Riga will focus on problems like corruption, anti-Semitism and freedom of the press that persist in the former communist countries.
But the U.S.-led global fight against terrorism following Sept. 11 attacks also was high on the agenda, with a delegation of five U.S. senators led by Sen. Trent Lott in attendance.
"September 11 accelerated the process and the number of countries that might be added," Lott said in an interview.
Since the attacks, NATO leaders have stressed that expansion is now as much about securing democracy across Europe as tangible defense contributions from the applicants, most of which have small militaries.
"Getting into NATO has become more than just meeting the (criteria) necessary to be considered for accession," Lott said. "It has moved toward the values that we all talk about now free markets, free trade and freedom for the people."
The prime ministers of Albania, Bulgaria, Croatia, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Macedonia, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia were at the meetings, along with defense officials and legislators, including several from the 19 NATO member states.
Video addresses by U.S. President George W. Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair will be played on Friday.
The summit, dubbed "the Bridge to Prague," is the final meeting of top leaders from the candidate countries before NATO leaders meet in November in Prague to discuss the biggest change to the alliance since it was formed 53 years ago.
Security in Riga, the Latvian capital, has been heightened, though few protesters are expected, police spokesman Krists Leiskalns said.
BUSH CHEERS EAST EUROPEANS BY BACKING BIGGER NATO
Reuters, 05 Jul 02, by Sean Maguire
RIGA (Reuters) - U.S. President George Bush said on Friday enlarging NATO would help the fight against terror, boosting the confidence of ex-communist states across eastern Europe that they will soon be invited into the alliance.
Speaking in a videotaped message Bush reaffirmed his administration's strong support for a bigger NATO, saying alliance expansion was integral to Washington's desire to see the defense bloc evolve to tackle a new range of threats.
"We seek a new Europe that has buried its historic tensions and is prepared to meet global challenges beyond Europe's borders," he told heads of government of states hoping to get a membership invitation at NATO's Prague summit in November.
"NATO must prepare itself to fight and defeat terror," said Bush, "and new members will help improve NATO's capabilities." /.../
British Prime Minister Tony Blair joined Bush in sending a taped message backing "enlargement on as broad a basis as possible," to help defeat September 11-style terror attacks.
"These are probably the most encouraging speeches from two of the most important leaders of the alliance that we have had so far," said Romanian Foreign Minister Mircea Geoana.
NO NAMES YET
Bush did not name any countries he wanted to see in NATO to ensure candidates remain under pressure to pursue economic, military and political changes.
Candidates can still "self-disqualify" at the last minute, officials warn, by democratic missteps and fluffing reform.
Bulgaria and Romania, once given only an outside chance, appear to have earned their place by portraying themselves as an anchor of stability on Europe's southeastern flank.
"We feel we are at the threshold," said Bulgarian Foreign Minister Solomon Passy, "but we still have to open the door."
The Balkan pair have rushed to assist Washington by sending troops to Afghanistan, opening their air space and allowing U.S. warplanes to refuel at military airbases.
To the delight of east Europeans hoping foreign investment will flow in following NATO entry, a "robust" enlargement has become a key part of Washington's strategy of reshaping NATO to help defeat what Bush called "the forces of chaos and hatred."
A new relationship with eastern states like Russia, with which NATO has forged a new strategic partnership, and a drive to improve the ability of NATO's European armies to fight outside their backyards, are the other part of Bush's plan.
"New capabilities, new members and a new relationship with the East -- we think if we can achieve all this by Prague then the alliance is going to be stronger," said Nicholas Burns, U.S. ambassador to NATO.
Even after the Prague meeting the new NATO nominees will be on a knife-edge as they watch the crucial U.S. ratification process unfold. Officials say the mood on Capital Hill is positive but Senate approval cannot be taken for granted.
"I think the Senate on a bipartisan basis will be for this and barring some problem I suspect the vote would be overwhelming," senior Republican Senator Trent Lott, leading a delegation to the Riga meeting, told reporters.
Parliamentary approval of new members by the legislatures of the 19 current NATO states will likely take until mid-2004.
SPECIAL MESSAGE BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES, GEORGE W. BUSH
http://www.rigasummit.lv/en/index.html?id=124
NATO ENLARGEMENT WILL HELP FIGHT "TERRORISM": BUSH, BLAIR
AFP, 05 Jul 02
RIGA, July 5 -- Further enlargement will help NATO combat "international terrorism," US President George W. Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair said in video addresses screened to leaders of 10 NATO hopefuls who met here Friday.
"All of Europe, and freedom-loving nations everywhere, are threatened by these forces of chaos and hatred. New members will help improve NATO's capabilities," said Bush.
"The members of NATO have made valuable contributions to the war on terror," he said.
"We will see the great alliance of liberty grow," he added.
In his address Blair said: "Issues like international terrorism and weapons of mass destruction are causing us to think anew about our strategy for the future. The British leader also said that Britain supported "as large an enlargement of NATO as possible." /.../
THE RT. HON. TONY BLAIR'S MESSAGE FOR THE V10 SUMMIT IN RIGA
http://www.rigasummit.lv/en/index.html?id=123
NATO HOPEFULS MUST BOLSTER ALLIANCE ANTI-TERROR FORCES: BUSH, BLAIR
AFP, 05 Jul 02
RIGA, July 5 -- US President George W. Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair on Friday told a summit of eastern European countries hoping to join NATO that they must improve the alliance's capacity to combat terror and prevent the spread of weapons of mass destruction.
"The members of NATO have made valuable contributions to the war on terror," Bush said in a video feed, adding: "New members will help improve NATO's capabilities." Blair, also speaking via video, told the conference: "Issues like international terrorism and weapons of mass destruction are causing us to think anew about our strategy for the future. We in Britain want to work with you to make these new challenges be met in as secure and serious a way as possible." /.../
BUSH TELLS NATO HOPEFULS OF COOPERATIVE FORCE TO FIGHT TERROR
Defense News, 05 Jul 02, by Martin Agüera
RIGA, LATVIA -- U.S. President George W. Bush July 5 addressed the heads of nations vying to become NATO members this year, imparting his vision of a new Europe that with the United States will overcome the world's most pressing security threats.
"We seek a new Europe that has buried its historic tensions and is prepared to meet global challenges beyond Europe's borders. America will continue to work arm-in-arm with Europe on fulfilling this vision," Bush told the participants of the Riga Summit here July 5 via television transmission from Washington.
Today, Bush said, all NATO members and those that may be invited to join during the alliance's November summit in Prague, Czech Republic, face the same task: "To defeat the forces of global terror."
"NATO must prepare itself to fight and defeat terror, and the other threats to freedom that we face together. And new members will help improve NATO's capabilities," Bush said.
Prague explicitly will mark a step forward for NATO and redefine trans-Atlantic relations.
"And I am determined to succeed, and determined that our children will record this year as a momentous turning point in their history," he told the state leaders.
Indulis Berzins, Latvia's minister for foreign affairs, said Bush's speech was a good signal for the future of NATO.
"The challenges are the same for everybody, and that is why we need an institution like NATO, even in the future," Berzins told DefenseNews.com July 5.
Berzins said Latvia, as well as Baltic neighbors Estonia and Lithuania, could be a valuable asset to the United States in the global fight against terrorism by promoting relations with Russia, whose borders are close to to countries believed to harbor terrorists. /.../
LOTT SEES BALTICS AS NATO MEMBERS
The Washington Times, 05 Jul 02, by Nicholas Kralev
RIGA, Latvia - Senate Minority Leader Trent Lott said yesterday that he expects the three Baltic states, Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia, to become NATO members in November but conceded that their contribution to the alliance will be more political than military and financial.
After a meeting of a bipartisan Senate delegation with the Baltic presidents in Riga, Mr. Lott, Mississippi Republican, said NATO expansion is "worthwhile." He also said that he looks "forward to inviting the largest possible number" of countries to join at the alliance's Prague summit in the fall.
"There is a special feeling in America about these three countries," Mr. Lott told reporters. "They stand a very excellent chance to be invited, and I expect that will be the result. If I could cast my vote, I'd say yes."
He will be able to cast his vote, along with all his colleagues in Congress, when the Bush administration sends the enlargement bill to Capitol Hill for ratification. The parliaments of all NATO members have to approve every new accession.
Many legislators have been supportive of what the Bush administration calls "robust expansion" - in fact, the debate on the issue has been virtually nonexistent this time compared with the impassioned discussions five years ago, when Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic received invitations.
But no member of Congress had gone as far as Mr. Lott, both to predict the outcome and to publicly endorse specific applicants so far in advance of the heads of state meeting, nearly five months away. Only a year ago, taking in even one of the former Soviet Baltic republics was viewed by many NATO capitals as too big of an irritant in the alliance's relationship with Moscow. However, with an agreement signed in late June making Russia a de facto member, that concern has vanished.
Moscow, however, maintains its official position of opposition to the alliance's eastward enlargement.
Mr. Lott, with Presidents Vaira Vike-Freiberga of Latvia, Valdas Adamkus of Lithuania and Arnold Ruutel of Estonia standing at his side, said the three countries' membership would have value "in terms of the principles" NATO believes in, because it is "much more than a security alliance." /.../
The delegation led by Mr. Lott also included Democratic Sen. Ben Nelson of Nebraska and Republican Sens. Craig Thomas of Wyoming, Jim Bunning of Kentucky and Robert F. Bennett of Utah.
U.S. SENATE LEADER SAYS BALTIC COUNTRIES HAVE "EXCELLENT" CHANCE OF JOINING
AP, 04 Jul 02, by J. Michael Lyons, AP Writer
RIGA, Latvia - U.S. Senate Republican leader Trent Lott told three Baltic presidents on Thursday that their countries have an excellent chance of joining NATO.
"If I could cast my vote right now, I'd vote 'yes,'" Lott said at a news conference with Estonian leader Arnold Ruutel, Latvia President Vaira Vike-Freiberga and Valdus Adamkus of Lithuania.
Any decision to expand must be ratified by the U.S. Senate.
Lott and four other senators - Robert Bennett, Jim Bunning, Benjamin Nelson and Craig Thomas - arrived Wednesday ahead of a two-day summit of leaders from 10 former Soviet bloc countries hoping for NATO membership. The summit starts Friday.
Along with the Baltic countries, Bulgaria, Romania, Slovenia and Slovakia are considered strong candidates to join the military alliance.
Albania, Croatia and Macedonia, also are sending leaders to the summit, are considered long shots.
U.S. leaders including President George W. Bush endorsed a robust enlargement since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks in the United States.
"I look forward to the largest possible number of new members to enhance the significance of the alliance," Lott said.
The Baltic countries made NATO membership a top priority soon after breaking from the Soviet Union in 1991.
"Your presence here reassures us of our desire to join," Adamkus told Lott.
If NATO admits seven new members, it would be the single-largest change in the alliance's composition since it was founded 53 years ago.
SENATOR LOTT TELLS VILNIUS GROUP "THERE IS ROOM FOR ALL" IN NATO
http://www.rigasummit.lv/en/index.html?id=119
BALTIC COUNTRIES HOPE NATO MEMBERSHIP WILL BE FRUIT OF YEARS OF PREPARATION
AFP, 05 Jul 02, by Beatrice Khadige
RIGA, July 5 -- Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania will present NATO with proof of almost 10 years' worth of effort to achieve high military standards as they meet with representatives of the military alliance this weekend for the last time before the Prague expansion summit in November.
The three Baltic countries have had their eyes on NATO membership as far back as 1994, just three years after the collapse of the Soviet Union, when they established a military link to share the heavy costs of bringing their armies up to par with NATO's high standards.
That was the beginning of "Baltdream," Lithuanian defense official Povilas Malakauskas said. That includes a Baltic battalion, Baltbat, and a naval team called Baltron. Then there is Baltnet, an air defense system that comprises a series of radars installed on the countries' western border with Russia.
There is even a military school that trains soldiers to meet NATO standards -- Baltdefcol, housed in the Estonian city of Tartu since its founding in 1998.
Now Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania -- with a total population of just eight million -- are favored to be the first former Soviet republics to join NATO and are expected to be invited to join its fold during November's Prague summit.
But the Baltic institutions are not seen as merely a means to an end, and Estonian defense ministry spokesman Madis Mikkos insisted that cooperation between the three countries would only continue to grow if they became fellow NATO members.
"Politically, it's very important to continue the defense cooperation between the Baltic states after we have received the invitation to NATO," Mikkos said.
"The current pan-Baltic projects will be continued in the future, but in a wider NATO context," he added.
Although Russia has recently dropped much of its opposition to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization -- created to protect the European continent from a Soviet threat -- some protest remains.
While Russia has been invited to attend the Prague summit, after joining NATO's new "Council of 20" that gives Moscow an equal voice with other members on a broad range of issues, it remains strongly opposed to NATO membership for republics that it once ruled.
"We are concerned about NATO's plan to enlarge to include the Baltic countries Estonia, Lithuania and Latvia, which do not take into account Russia's security interests," said Andrey Nikolayev, president of the defense commission for the Duma, Russia's lower house of parliament.
"If all three countries were invited (to join NATO), it would have a big influence on the way we would look at co-operation," said Janis Sarts, deputy state secretary at Latvia's defense ministry.
During the meeting on Friday and Saturday, NATO representatives and the leaders of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania will sit alongside seven other leaders hoping to have their countries invited to join the military alliance: Albania, Bulgaria, Croatia, Macedonia, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia.
The meeting, dubbed "Riga 2002: The Bridge To Prague", was scheduled to be attended by five US senators and addressed over satellite links by US President George W. Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair.
NATO has asked the 10 candidate countries to set aside two percent of their gross domestic product for defense starting in 2004.
Tallinn and Vilnius are ready to go ahead with the plan this year, while Riga says it will begin amending its budget next year.
NATO RECONSIDERS ITS GLOBAL ROLE
Financial Times, 04 Jul 02, by Rafael Behr
RIGA - One activity will dominate the agenda when leaders from 10 countries seeking membership of Nato meet on Friday in the Latvian capital Riga: watching television.
While East Europe's candidate countries have sent prime ministers and presidents to Friday's summit - the last before a decision on enlargement is due - leaders from Nato members will be represented on screen, delivering recorded messages.
US President George Bush and Tony Blair, the UK prime minister, are both expected to express strong support for a wide enlargement of Nato and to call for the alliance to reform to meet new challenges in international security.
The statements, which will be scrutinised for clues to the alliance's intentions, are likely to reinforce the widely held view that the alliance is looking to invite up to seven new members - the three Baltic states and four countries from central and southern Europe - when it meets in Prague in November.
But the real message, diplomats say, is about Nato's own search for a role in the world.
The redrawing of cold war borders in Europe - an early goal of enlargement - has been rendered increasingly obsolete by the diplomatic rapprochement between Russia and the US since September 11.
Proponents of enlargement are keen to find a new logic for the process.
"After September 11 all of us have a slightly different concept about what Nato is about," says Brian Carlson, US ambassador to Latvia. "Nato is a defence alliance. But we also recognise that it is a community of nations that agree on common principles. In the war on terrorism, that's important."
Among the common principles most valued by the US and UK, willingness to spend money on defence comes top. Privately, some Nato officials lament that the readiness of some candidates to commit themselves to high levels of defence spending outstrips the commitment of existing member states. The Baltic states are singled out for praise for locking themselves into spending 2 per cent of their GDP annually on defence.
Nato members also emphasise that some candidates are more advanced than member states in offering niche military capabilities to match the alliance's post-September 11 security priorities. Easily mobilised and specialised units - however small - in fields such as defence against chemical and biological attacks are seen as highly valued assets.
In accordance with standard Nato practice no individual candidates will be singled out for special praise or rebuke in Riga this weekend. But with four months to go until Prague the delegates will be watching their TV screens closely.
NATO HOPEFULS MEET IN LATVIA
BBC, 05 Jun 02, by Nick Walton, BBC correspondent
RIGA - Leaders from 10 East European countries hoping to join Nato are due to meet representatives of the military alliance in the Latvian capital, Riga.
The meeting is the last before a summit in November at which Nato will decide which applicants have been successful.
The Riga summit is a chance for each of the 10 countries to gauge the progress of their applications.
The host country Latvia along with its Baltic neighbours Estonia and Lithuania have built up their national armed forces from scratch in the years since winning independence from the former Soviet Union.
All three plus Slovenia are near the top of many observers' lists of those likely to have their applications accepted.
Changing role
The chances of two other countries, Bulgaria and Romania, are widely thought to have greatly improved after the support that they gave to the United States and its allies in the war against terror.
Two others, Albania and Macedonia, are believed to have the hardest job because of continuing instability within each country and within the Balkans.
The other applicants are Croatia and Slovakia.
Also on the agenda is the debate over what the security role of Nato will be, especially in the light of the events of 11 September.
Russia, which has a frosty attitude to the possible expansion of Nato up to its doorstep, says membership will not help countries deal with the security threats of the modern world: nuclear proliferation and terrorism.
The location of this summit in Riga, well within the borders of what used to be part of Nato's old adversary, the former Soviet Union, is a sign of how much Nato's security role is changing.
POLISH PRESIDENT SUGGESTS NEW REGIONAL FORUM AT NATO SUMMIT
BNS, 05 Jul 02
RIGA, July 05, BNS - Polish President Aleksander Kwasniewski called for cooperation of Vilnius Ten and Visegrad group countries in order to unite directions of integration in NATO of the Central and Southern European countries.
Kwasniewski who expressed the appeal to summit of NATO candidate countries Friday in Riga did not rule out other countries too could join this initiative.
Kwasniewski said in address to the meeting that there are concerns that on admission of some countries to NATO the rest will remain in the status of repulsed therefore Central and Southern European countries should cooperate to promote the united integration of Europe.
He proposed to discuss this issue as forming a united platform, improving cooperation between the candidate countries of Vilnius Ten group and Visegrad group, admitted to NATO in the last wave of enlargement.
Kwasniewski said the principle of cooperation would be pluralism and openness as well as building of civic society and market economy.
He said Poland feels co-responsible for NATO enlargement process and voiced a hope the meeting participants will be interested in his appeal.
Kwasniewski discussed his initiative with Latvian President Vaira Vike-Freiberga earlier in the day. /.../
SPEECH OF PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF POLAND ALEKSANDER KWASNIEWSKI
http://www.rigasummit.lv/en/index.html?id=125
LATVIAN OFFICIALS PRAISE POLISH PRESIDENT'S INITIATIVE
BNS, 05 Jul 02
RIGA, July 05, BNS - Latvian Prime Minister Andris Berzins and Foreign Minister Indulis Berzins hailed initiative by Polish President Aleksander Kwasniewski to form a new union of states embracing cooperation between Vilnius Ten group and Visegrad group countries.
Prime Minister Andris Berzins commended Kwasniewski's initiative saying it would create understanding in the Baltic states about "how things should happen" on the path to NATO and how to attain this goal faster.
He did not rule out other countries too would be interested in cooperation with the Baltic states in integration in the European Union. "Very good that there will be united cooperation from North to South," said the prime minister.
Foreign Minister Indulis Berzins described the initiative of Kwasniewski as "good and timely". He said the candidate countries foreign ministers discussed this proposal already Friday and highly appreciated it. He said the candidate countries should think about what they do after they get invitation to join the alliance /.../
LITHUANIA WANTS MORE INFO ON POLISH PRESIDENT'S INITIATIVE
BNS, 05 Jul 02
VILNIUS, Jul 05, BNS - Lithuanian officials have given a positive but discreet evaluation of the Polish President Alexander Kwasniewski's initiative to form a new regional organization of European countries out of members of the Vilnius Ten and the Visegrad group.
Spokeswoman for Lithuanian President Valdas Adamkus told BNS that the president would discuss the proposal with his Polish colleague in the nearest future.
"The Polish leader informed the Lithuanian president about the initiative before the meeting in Riga. The two presidents agreed to address implementation of the initiative in the nearest future," said Violeta Gaizauskaite.
According to information available to BNS, the meeting could take place on Aug. 2 in Lithuania's port city Klaipeda, which will be marking its 750th anniversary. All leaders of countries around the Baltic Sea have been invited to participate in the celebration.
Speaking to reporters in Riga on Friday, Lithuanian Prime Minister Algirdas Brazauskas described the initiative as interesting, adding it will "give more strength to this movement and will add more political weight to Vilnius Ten".
Petras Zapolskas, the director of the Lithuanian Foreign Ministry's Information and Culture Department, told BNS that Vilnius expected the Kwasniewski initiative to be "detailed" as soon as possible.
"It is a welcomed matter designed to unify and consolidate Europe. We have to do a lot in the region," said Zapolskas.
Speaking to BNS, the head of the parliamentary Foreign Affairs Committee, MP Gediminas Kirkilas, described the Kwasniewski initiative as "solid." He said there were several positive aspects to the proposal.
"There were some disagreements between the Vilnius Ten and the Visegrad group until now. The new pattern would prevent this. In the light of the future of the expanded alliance [NATO], the new group would be a big block boosting security and cooperation within NATO. This is an important block within the future expanded European Union (EU)," said Kirkilas.
"This would be a large part of Europe coordinating its positions," the head of the parliamentary committee added. /.../
U.S. SENATORS, BALTIC LEADERS REMEMBER HOLOCAUST IN LATVIA
AFP, 04 Jul 02
RIGA, July 4 -- U.S. Senators led by Senate minority leader Trent Lott and accompanied by leaders of the Baltic states on Thursday recalled July 4 in Riga 61 years ago, when Nazis locked up Jewish victims in a synagogue and set it ablaze.
The date is now Holocaust commemoration day in the small Baltic state.
"The Germans and their local collaborators set fire to a synagogue into which they locked a group of people whose only crime was belonging to the Jewish faith", said Latvian President Vaira Vike-Freiberga. She was speaking at a ceremony at the only Riga synagogue to survive the Holocaust, commemorating the annihilation of 78,000 Latvian Jews remembered together with all other Holocaust victims.
The burning of the nearby Choral Synagogue on July 4, 1941, represented the start of "one of the most tragic periods in the history of this country", Vike-Freiberga said at the ceremony.
It was attended by five U.S senators, Estonian President Arnold Ruutel, Lithuanian President Valdas Adamkus, and former White House national security adviser Zbignew Brzezinski.
Several hundred people were killed in the Choral Synagogue, mostly Lithuanian Jews as well as Latvian Jews, when hand grenades were thrown into the building, located in an area predominantly inhabited by Jews which the nazis transformed into a closed ghetto.
The vast majority of the 78,000 Jewish victims were shot outside the city.
The Latvian President warned against any repetition of barbarity: "We must always be alert to ensure that the watchful human being is always in control over the sleeping reptile."
"Tomorrow is one day closer to vindicating the dreams and hopes of those who perished here", said Lott in a reference to a summit scheduled here Friday and Saturday of 10 eastern and central European countries seeking NATO membership.
"They will discuss the steps for a new alliance with a vision of a new world", he added.
The Chief Rabbi of Riga's tiny Jewish Community, Nathan Barkan, stressed the terrible pain still felt by the Jews after the Holocaust, but reminded the audience of the many Latvians, non-Jews and sometimes priests, who helped to save Jews and managed to the Nazis not to burn down the last Riga synagogue.
Looking to the future of the country, Rabbi Barkan said he hoped his country would be "a model to others in its attitude toward the Jews and other minorities."
But Gregory Krupnikov, one of 40 ghetto survivors, said he wanted the extent of that tragic event to be more fully acknowledged in Latvia.
"There have been very marked improvements in just three or four years. We'd like to see it bigger", he told AFP, in a reference to the introduction of the history of the Holocaust into the curricula of Latvian schools and universities. "For anyone to accept the idea that your neighbour became a mass murderer is not easy", he added.
US JEWISH COMMITTEE EUROPE DIRECTOR PRAISES LATVIA'S EFFORTS IN HOLOCAUST COMMEMORATION
BNS, 04 Jul 02
RIGA, July 04 - The United States Jewish committee European affairs director Andrew Baker praised the work performed by Latvia in the Holocaust commemoration and education sphere.
In talks with Latvian Foreign Minister Indulis Berzins Thursday in Riga, discussing the Holocaust research and work of Latvia's historians committee, Baker praised the work performed by Latvia in implementation of the historians committee work as well as in revival of Latvia's Jewish community. Berzins reported to Baker about separate aspects in the Holocaust education implemented in Latvia. He said a travelling exhibition has been formed "Latvia's Jewish community -- history, tragedy, revival" and, Latvia's action plan on education about the Holocaust, its research and commemoration is being implemented and also that regular seminars are held for teachers on the Holocaust teaching at schools.
The officials during the meeting also discussed NATO enlargement and, Baker affirmed the strong support of the committee to further enlargement process of NATO.
Berzins also met with American Foreign Policy National Committee President George Schwab and Steven Springfield, representing the association of the Holocaust survivors in the United States.
The officials during the talks with Latvian foreign minister praised the changes that have taken place in Latvia after the restoration of the country's independence. The officials also exchanged opinions on further prospects of NATO enlargement and Latvia's contribution to Trans-Atlantic security.
= DOCUMENTS =
SPECIAL MESSAGE BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES, GEORGE W. BUSH
http://www.rigasummit.lv/en/index.html?id=124
THE RT. HON. TONY BLAIR'S MESSAGE FOR THE V10 SUMMIT IN RIGA
http://www.rigasummit.lv/en/index.html?id=123
"THERE IS ROOM FOR ALL. NATO IS YOUR HOUSE OF MANY MANSIONS"
ADDRESS TO SPECIAL SESSION OF RIGA SUMMIT 2002 BY SENATOR TRENT LOTT, MINORITY LEADER OF THE UNITED STATES SENATE: http://www.rigasummit.lv/en/index.html?id=117
SENATOR LOTT TELLS VILNIUS GROUP "THERE IS ROOM FOR ALL" IN NATO
http://www.rigasummit.lv/en/index.html?id=119
BY H. E. DR. VAIRA VIKE-FREIBERGA, PRESIDENT OF LATVIA, AT THE
RIGA 2002 - BRIDGE TO PRAGUE SUMMIT OF THE NATO ASPIRANT COUNTRIES
http://www.rigasummit.lv/en/index.html?id=122
STATE PRESIDENT VAIRA VIKE-FREIBERGA'S ADDRESS TO THE US SENATORS
http://www.rigasummit.lv/en/index.html?id=105
ADDRESS BY THE HE MR ANDRIS BERZINS TO INTRODUCE SPEECH OF US SENATOR T. LOTT:
http://www.rigasummit.lv/en/index.html?id=118
WELCOME BY THE HE MR ANDRIS BERZINS, PRIME MINISTER OF LATVIA
http://www.rigasummit.lv/en/index.html?id=121
ADDRESS BY THE SPEAKER OF THE SAEIMA MR. JANIS STRAUME AT THE UNIVERSITY OF LATVIA: http://www.rigasummit.lv/en/index.html?id=120
SPEECH OF PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF POLAND ALEKSANDER KWASNIEWSKI
http://www.rigasummit.lv/en/index.html?id=125
= MORE HEADLINES =
* US SENATE'S REPUBLICAN LEADER APPLAUDS 10 NATO HOPEFULS - AFP, 05 Jul 02
* NATO HOPEFULS EAGER FOR WESTERN SUPPORT AT LAST SUMMIT BEFORE - AFP, 05 Jul 02, by Nick Coleman
* COUNTRIES PUSH FOR NATO MEMBERSHIP - Las Vegas Sun / AP, 04 Jul 02
* COUNTRIES PUSH FOR NATO MEMBERSHIP - Washington Post / AP, 04 Jul 02
* LEADERS OF NATIONS BIDDING TO JOIN NATO MEET - Wall Street Journal / AP, 05 Jul 02
* BALTIC PRESIDENTS CALL FOR SOLIDARITY BEFORE NATO CANDIDATE SUMMIT - DPA, 04 Jul 02
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<DIV><FONT face=Verdana size=2>NATO ENLARGEMENT DAILY BRIEF (NEDB)<BR>Friday, 05
Jul 2002, 13:23 EDT<BR>---------------------------------------------<BR>* V-10
LEADERS MEET FOR A FINAL PUSH TOWARD PRAGUE - AP / Michael Lyons</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><BR><FONT face=Verdana size=2>* BUSH CHEERS EAST EUROPEANS BY BACKING
BIGGER NATO - Reuters / Sean Maguire<BR>* NATO ENLARGEMENT WILL HELP FIGHT
"TERRORISM": BUSH, BLAIR - AFP<BR>* NATO HOPEFULS MUST BOLSTER ALLIANCE
ANTI-TERROR FORCES: BUSH, BLAIR - AFP<BR>* BUSH TELLS NATO HOPEFULS OF
COOPERATIVE FORCE TO FIGHT TERROR - Defense News / Martin
Agüera<BR></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Verdana size=2>* LOTT SEES BALTICS AS NATO MEMBERS - WT /
Nicholas Kralev<BR>* U.S. SENATE LEADER SAYS BALTIC COUNTRIES HAVE "EXCELLENT"
CHANCE OF JOINING - AP / J. Michael Lyons<BR></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Verdana size=2>* BALTIC COUNTRIES HOPE NATO MEMBERSHIP WILL BE
FRUIT OF YEARS OF PREPARATION - AFP / Beatrice Khadige<BR>* NATO RECONSIDERS ITS
GLOBAL ROLE - FT / Rafael Behr<BR>* NATO HOPEFULS MEET IN LATVIA - BBC / Nick
Walton<BR></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Verdana size=2>* POLISH PRESIDENT SUGGESTS NEW REGIONAL FORUM AT
NATO SUMMIT - BNS</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Verdana size=2>* LATVIAN OFFICIALS PRAISE POLISH PRESIDENT'S
INITIATIVE - BNS</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Verdana size=2>* LITHUANIA WANTS MORE INFO ON POLISH PRESIDENT'S
INITIATIVE - BNS</FONT></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Verdana size=2>* U.S. SENATORS, BALTIC LEADERS REMEMBER
HOLOCAUST IN LATVIA - AFP<BR>* US JEWISH COMMITTEE EUROPE DIRECTOR PRAISES
LATVIA'S EFFORTS - BNS</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Verdana
size=2>---------------------------------------------<BR>To subscribe to NEDB,
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size=2>----------------------------------------------<BR> <BR>=RIGA SUMMIT
OF V-10 PRIME MINISTERS=<BR>THE BRIDGE TO PRAGUE<BR></FONT><A
href="http://www.rigasummit.lv"><FONT face=Verdana
size=2>www.rigasummit.lv</FONT></A><BR><FONT face=Verdana
size=2> <BR>LEADERS OF COUNTRIES BIDDING TO JOIN NATO MEET FOR A FINAL PUSH
TOWARD PRAGUE<BR>AP, 04 Jul 02, by J. Michael Lyons, AP
Writer<BR> <BR>RIGA, Latvia - Leaders from 10 former East Bloc countries
were optimistic Friday as they began a final collective bid to join NATO ahead
of a November summit in Prague at which the alliance is to map out its plans for
expansion.<BR> <BR>The three ex-Soviet Baltic republics of Estonia, Latvia
and Lithuania along with Bulgaria, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia lead the list
of countries expected to be invited to join. All are looking at this summit, in
part, as a celebration.<BR>"We're not exactly popping the champagne bottles yet,
but to some extent we're celebrating what will be an important historical
event," Latvian Foreign Minister Indulis Berzins said.<BR>Discussions during the
two-day summit in Riga will focus on problems like corruption, anti-Semitism and
freedom of the press that persist in the former communist countries.<BR>But the
U.S.-led global fight against terrorism following Sept. 11 attacks also was high
on the agenda, with a delegation of five U.S. senators led by Sen. Trent Lott in
attendance.<BR>"September 11 accelerated the process and the number of countries
that might be added," Lott said in an interview.<BR>Since the attacks, NATO
leaders have stressed that expansion is now as much about securing democracy
across Europe as tangible defense contributions from the applicants, most of
which have small militaries.<BR>"Getting into NATO has become more than just
meeting the (criteria) necessary to be considered for accession," Lott said. "It
has moved toward the values that we all talk about now free markets, free trade
and freedom for the people."<BR>The prime ministers of Albania, Bulgaria,
Croatia, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Macedonia, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia
were at the meetings, along with defense officials and legislators, including
several from the 19 NATO member states.<BR>Video addresses by U.S. President
George W. Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair will be played on
Friday.<BR>The summit, dubbed "the Bridge to Prague," is the final meeting of
top leaders from the candidate countries before NATO leaders meet in November in
Prague to discuss the biggest change to the alliance since it was formed 53
years ago.<BR>Security in Riga, the Latvian capital, has been heightened, though
few protesters are expected, police spokesman Krists Leiskalns
said.<BR> <BR>BUSH CHEERS EAST EUROPEANS BY BACKING BIGGER NATO<BR>Reuters,
05 Jul 02, by Sean Maguire<BR> <BR>RIGA (Reuters) - U.S. President George
Bush said on Friday enlarging NATO would help the fight against terror, boosting
the confidence of ex-communist states across eastern Europe that they will soon
be invited into the alliance.<BR> <BR>Speaking in a videotaped message Bush
reaffirmed his administration's strong support for a bigger NATO, saying
alliance expansion was integral to Washington's desire to see the defense bloc
evolve to tackle a new range of threats.<BR>"We seek a new Europe that has
buried its historic tensions and is prepared to meet global challenges beyond
Europe's borders," he told heads of government of states hoping to get a
membership invitation at NATO's Prague summit in November.<BR>"NATO must prepare
itself to fight and defeat terror," said Bush, "and new members will help
improve NATO's capabilities." /.../<BR>British Prime Minister Tony Blair joined
Bush in sending a taped message backing "enlargement on as broad a basis as
possible," to help defeat September 11-style terror attacks.<BR>"These are
probably the most encouraging speeches from two of the most important leaders of
the alliance that we have had so far," said Romanian Foreign Minister Mircea
Geoana.<BR> <BR>NO NAMES YET<BR> <BR>Bush did not name any countries
he wanted to see in NATO to ensure candidates remain under pressure to pursue
economic, military and political changes.<BR>Candidates can still
"self-disqualify" at the last minute, officials warn, by democratic missteps and
fluffing reform.<BR>Bulgaria and Romania, once given only an outside chance,
appear to have earned their place by portraying themselves as an anchor of
stability on Europe's southeastern flank.<BR>"We feel we are at the threshold,"
said Bulgarian Foreign Minister Solomon Passy, "but we still have to open the
door."<BR>The Balkan pair have rushed to assist Washington by sending troops to
Afghanistan, opening their air space and allowing U.S. warplanes to refuel at
military airbases.<BR>To the delight of east Europeans hoping foreign investment
will flow in following NATO entry, a "robust" enlargement has become a key part
of Washington's strategy of reshaping NATO to help defeat what Bush called "the
forces of chaos and hatred."<BR>A new relationship with eastern states like
Russia, with which NATO has forged a new strategic partnership, and a drive to
improve the ability of NATO's European armies to fight outside their backyards,
are the other part of Bush's plan.<BR>"New capabilities, new members and a new
relationship with the East -- we think if we can achieve all this by Prague then
the alliance is going to be stronger," said Nicholas Burns, U.S. ambassador to
NATO.<BR>Even after the Prague meeting the new NATO nominees will be on a
knife-edge as they watch the crucial U.S. ratification process unfold. Officials
say the mood on Capital Hill is positive but Senate approval cannot be taken for
granted.<BR>"I think the Senate on a bipartisan basis will be for this and
barring some problem I suspect the vote would be overwhelming," senior
Republican Senator Trent Lott, leading a delegation to the Riga meeting, told
reporters.<BR>Parliamentary approval of new members by the legislatures of the
19 current NATO states will likely take until mid-2004.<BR> <BR>SPECIAL
MESSAGE BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES, GEORGE W. BUSH<BR></FONT><A
href="http://www.rigasummit.lv/en/index.html?id=124"><FONT face=Verdana
size=2>http://www.rigasummit.lv/en/index.html?id=124</FONT></A><BR><FONT
face=Verdana size=2> <BR> NATO ENLARGEMENT WILL HELP FIGHT
"TERRORISM": BUSH, BLAIR<BR>AFP, 05 Jul 02<BR> <BR>RIGA, July 5 -- Further
enlargement will help NATO combat "international terrorism," US President George
W. Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair said in video addresses screened
to leaders of 10 NATO hopefuls who met here Friday.<BR>"All of Europe, and
freedom-loving nations everywhere, are threatened by these forces of chaos and
hatred. New members will help improve NATO's capabilities," said Bush.<BR>"The
members of NATO have made valuable contributions to the war on terror," he
said.<BR>"We will see the great alliance of liberty grow," he added.<BR>In his
address Blair said: "Issues like international terrorism and weapons of mass
destruction are causing us to think anew about our strategy for the future. The
British leader also said that Britain supported "as large an enlargement of NATO
as possible." /.../<BR> <BR>THE RT. HON. TONY BLAIR'S MESSAGE FOR THE V10
SUMMIT IN RIGA<BR></FONT><A
href="http://www.rigasummit.lv/en/index.html?id=123"><FONT face=Verdana
size=2>http://www.rigasummit.lv/en/index.html?id=123</FONT></A><BR><FONT
face=Verdana size=2> <BR>NATO HOPEFULS MUST BOLSTER ALLIANCE ANTI-TERROR
FORCES: BUSH, BLAIR<BR>AFP, 05 Jul 02<BR> <BR>RIGA, July 5 -- US President
George W. Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair on Friday told a summit of
eastern European countries hoping to join NATO that they must improve the
alliance's capacity to combat terror and prevent the spread of weapons of mass
destruction.<BR> <BR>"The members of NATO have made valuable contributions
to the war on terror," Bush said in a video feed, adding: "New members will help
improve NATO's capabilities." Blair, also speaking via video, told the
conference: "Issues like international terrorism and weapons of mass destruction
are causing us to think anew about our strategy for the future. We in Britain
want to work with you to make these new challenges be met in as secure and
serious a way as possible." /.../<BR> <BR>BUSH TELLS NATO HOPEFULS OF
COOPERATIVE FORCE TO FIGHT TERROR<BR>Defense News, 05 Jul 02, by Martin
Agüera<BR> <BR>RIGA, LATVIA -- U.S. President George W. Bush July 5
addressed the heads of nations vying to become NATO members this year, imparting
his vision of a new Europe that with the United States will overcome the world's
most pressing security threats.<BR> <BR>"We seek a new Europe that has
buried its historic tensions and is prepared to meet global challenges beyond
Europe's borders. America will continue to work arm-in-arm with Europe on
fulfilling this vision," Bush told the participants of the Riga Summit here July
5 via television transmission from Washington.<BR>Today, Bush said, all NATO
members and those that may be invited to join during the alliance's November
summit in Prague, Czech Republic, face the same task: "To defeat the forces of
global terror."<BR>"NATO must prepare itself to fight and defeat terror, and the
other threats to freedom that we face together. And new members will help
improve NATO's capabilities," Bush said.<BR>Prague explicitly will mark a step
forward for NATO and redefine trans-Atlantic relations.<BR>"And I am determined
to succeed, and determined that our children will record this year as a
momentous turning point in their history," he told the state leaders.<BR>Indulis
Berzins, Latvia's minister for foreign affairs, said Bush's speech was a good
signal for the future of NATO.<BR>"The challenges are the same for everybody,
and that is why we need an institution like NATO, even in the future," Berzins
told DefenseNews.com July 5.<BR>Berzins said Latvia, as well as Baltic neighbors
Estonia and Lithuania, could be a valuable asset to the United States in the
global fight against terrorism by promoting relations with Russia, whose borders
are close to to countries believed to harbor terrorists. /.../<BR> <BR>LOTT
SEES BALTICS AS NATO MEMBERS<BR>The Washington Times, 05 Jul 02, by Nicholas
Kralev<BR> <BR>RIGA, Latvia - Senate Minority Leader Trent Lott said
yesterday that he expects the three Baltic states, Latvia, Lithuania and
Estonia, to become NATO members in November but conceded that their contribution
to the alliance will be more political than military and
financial.<BR> <BR>After a meeting of a bipartisan Senate delegation with
the Baltic presidents in Riga, Mr. Lott, Mississippi Republican, said NATO
expansion is "worthwhile." He also said that he looks "forward to inviting the
largest possible number" of countries to join at the alliance's Prague summit in
the fall.<BR>"There is a special feeling in America about these three
countries," Mr. Lott told reporters. "They stand a very excellent chance to be
invited, and I expect that will be the result. If I could cast my vote, I'd say
yes."<BR>He will be able to cast his vote, along with all his colleagues in
Congress, when the Bush administration sends the enlargement bill to Capitol
Hill for ratification. The parliaments of all NATO members have to approve every
new accession.<BR>Many legislators have been supportive of what the Bush
administration calls "robust expansion" - in fact, the debate on the issue has
been virtually nonexistent this time compared with the impassioned discussions
five years ago, when Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic received
invitations.<BR>But no member of Congress had gone as far as Mr. Lott, both to
predict the outcome and to publicly endorse specific applicants so far in
advance of the heads of state meeting, nearly five months away. Only a year ago,
taking in even one of the former Soviet Baltic republics was viewed by many NATO
capitals as too big of an irritant in the alliance's relationship with Moscow.
However, with an agreement signed in late June making Russia a de facto member,
that concern has vanished.<BR>Moscow, however, maintains its official position
of opposition to the alliance's eastward enlargement.<BR>Mr. Lott, with
Presidents Vaira Vike-Freiberga of Latvia, Valdas Adamkus of Lithuania and
Arnold Ruutel of Estonia standing at his side, said the three countries'
membership would have value "in terms of the principles" NATO believes in,
because it is "much more than a security alliance." /.../<BR>The delegation led
by Mr. Lott also included Democratic Sen. Ben Nelson of Nebraska and Republican
Sens. Craig Thomas of Wyoming, Jim Bunning of Kentucky and Robert F. Bennett of
Utah.<BR> <BR>U.S. SENATE LEADER SAYS BALTIC COUNTRIES HAVE "EXCELLENT"
CHANCE OF JOINING<BR>AP, 04 Jul 02, by J. Michael Lyons, AP
Writer<BR> <BR>RIGA, Latvia - U.S. Senate Republican leader Trent Lott told
three Baltic presidents on Thursday that their countries have an excellent
chance of joining NATO.<BR> <BR>"If I could cast my vote right now, I'd
vote 'yes,'" Lott said at a news conference with Estonian leader Arnold Ruutel,
Latvia President Vaira Vike-Freiberga and Valdus Adamkus of Lithuania.<BR>Any
decision to expand must be ratified by the U.S. Senate.<BR>Lott and four other
senators - Robert Bennett, Jim Bunning, Benjamin Nelson and Craig Thomas -
arrived Wednesday ahead of a two-day summit of leaders from 10 former Soviet
bloc countries hoping for NATO membership. The summit starts Friday.<BR>Along
with the Baltic countries, Bulgaria, Romania, Slovenia and Slovakia are
considered strong candidates to join the military alliance.<BR>Albania, Croatia
and Macedonia, also are sending leaders to the summit, are considered long
shots.<BR>U.S. leaders including President George W. Bush endorsed a robust
enlargement since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks in the United States.<BR>"I
look forward to the largest possible number of new members to enhance the
significance of the alliance," Lott said.<BR>The Baltic countries made NATO
membership a top priority soon after breaking from the Soviet Union in
1991.<BR>"Your presence here reassures us of our desire to join," Adamkus told
Lott.<BR>If NATO admits seven new members, it would be the single-largest change
in the alliance's composition since it was founded 53 years
ago.<BR> <BR>SENATOR LOTT TELLS VILNIUS GROUP "THERE IS ROOM FOR ALL" IN
NATO<BR></FONT><A href="http://www.rigasummit.lv/en/index.html?id=119"><FONT
face=Verdana
size=2>http://www.rigasummit.lv/en/index.html?id=119</FONT></A><BR><FONT
face=Verdana size=2> <BR>BALTIC COUNTRIES HOPE NATO MEMBERSHIP WILL BE
FRUIT OF YEARS OF PREPARATION<BR>AFP, 05 Jul 02, by Beatrice
Khadige<BR> <BR> RIGA, July 5 -- Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania will
present NATO with proof of almost 10 years' worth of effort to achieve high
military standards as they meet with representatives of the military alliance
this weekend for the last time before the Prague expansion summit in
November.<BR> <BR>The three Baltic countries have had their eyes on NATO
membership as far back as 1994, just three years after the collapse of the
Soviet Union, when they established a military link to share the heavy costs of
bringing their armies up to par with NATO's high standards.<BR>That was the
beginning of "Baltdream," Lithuanian defense official Povilas Malakauskas said.
That includes a Baltic battalion, Baltbat, and a naval team called Baltron. Then
there is Baltnet, an air defense system that comprises a series of radars
installed on the countries' western border with Russia.<BR>There is even a
military school that trains soldiers to meet NATO standards -- Baltdefcol,
housed in the Estonian city of Tartu since its founding in 1998.<BR>Now Estonia,
Latvia, and Lithuania -- with a total population of just eight million -- are
favored to be the first former Soviet republics to join NATO and are expected to
be invited to join its fold during November's Prague summit.<BR>But the Baltic
institutions are not seen as merely a means to an end, and Estonian defense
ministry spokesman Madis Mikkos insisted that cooperation between the three
countries would only continue to grow if they became fellow NATO
members.<BR>"Politically, it's very important to continue the defense
cooperation between the Baltic states after we have received the invitation to
NATO," Mikkos said.<BR>"The current pan-Baltic projects will be continued in the
future, but in a wider NATO context," he added.<BR>Although Russia has recently
dropped much of its opposition to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization --
created to protect the European continent from a Soviet threat -- some protest
remains.<BR>While Russia has been invited to attend the Prague summit, after
joining NATO's new "Council of 20" that gives Moscow an equal voice with other
members on a broad range of issues, it remains strongly opposed to NATO
membership for republics that it once ruled.<BR>"We are concerned about NATO's
plan to enlarge to include the Baltic countries Estonia, Lithuania and Latvia,
which do not take into account Russia's security interests," said Andrey
Nikolayev, president of the defense commission for the Duma, Russia's lower
house of parliament.<BR>"If all three countries were invited (to join NATO), it
would have a big influence on the way we would look at co-operation," said Janis
Sarts, deputy state secretary at Latvia's defense ministry.<BR>During the
meeting on Friday and Saturday, NATO representatives and the leaders of Estonia,
Latvia and Lithuania will sit alongside seven other leaders hoping to have their
countries invited to join the military alliance: Albania, Bulgaria, Croatia,
Macedonia, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia.<BR>The meeting, dubbed "Riga 2002:
The Bridge To Prague", was scheduled to be attended by five US senators and
addressed over satellite links by US President George W. Bush and British Prime
Minister Tony Blair.<BR>NATO has asked the 10 candidate countries to set aside
two percent of their gross domestic product for defense starting in
2004.<BR>Tallinn and Vilnius are ready to go ahead with the plan this year,
while Riga says it will begin amending its budget next year.<BR> <BR>NATO
RECONSIDERS ITS GLOBAL ROLE<BR>Financial Times, 04 Jul 02, by Rafael
Behr<BR> <BR>RIGA - One activity will dominate the agenda when leaders from
10 countries seeking membership of Nato meet on Friday in the Latvian capital
Riga: watching television.<BR> <BR>While East Europe's candidate countries
have sent prime ministers and presidents to Friday's summit - the last before a
decision on enlargement is due - leaders from Nato members will be represented
on screen, delivering recorded messages.<BR>US President George Bush and Tony
Blair, the UK prime minister, are both expected to express strong support for a
wide enlargement of Nato and to call for the alliance to reform to meet new
challenges in international security.<BR>The statements, which will be
scrutinised for clues to the alliance's intentions, are likely to reinforce the
widely held view that the alliance is looking to invite up to seven new members
- the three Baltic states and four countries from central and southern Europe -
when it meets in Prague in November.<BR>But the real message, diplomats say, is
about Nato's own search for a role in the world.<BR>The redrawing of cold war
borders in Europe - an early goal of enlargement - has been rendered
increasingly obsolete by the diplomatic rapprochement between Russia and the US
since September 11.<BR> <BR>Proponents of enlargement are keen to find a
new logic for the process.<BR> <BR>"After September 11 all of us have a
slightly different concept about what Nato is about," says Brian Carlson, US
ambassador to Latvia. "Nato is a defence alliance. But we also recognise that it
is a community of nations that agree on common principles. In the war on
terrorism, that's important."<BR>Among the common principles most valued by the
US and UK, willingness to spend money on defence comes top. Privately, some Nato
officials lament that the readiness of some candidates to commit themselves to
high levels of defence spending outstrips the commitment of existing member
states. The Baltic states are singled out for praise for locking themselves into
spending 2 per cent of their GDP annually on defence.<BR>Nato members also
emphasise that some candidates are more advanced than member states in offering
niche military capabilities to match the alliance's post-September 11 security
priorities. Easily mobilised and specialised units - however small - in fields
such as defence against chemical and biological attacks are seen as highly
valued assets.<BR>In accordance with standard Nato practice no individual
candidates will be singled out for special praise or rebuke in Riga this
weekend. But with four months to go until Prague the delegates will be watching
their TV screens closely.<BR> <BR>NATO HOPEFULS MEET IN LATVIA<BR>BBC, 05
Jun 02, by Nick Walton, BBC correspondent<BR> <BR>RIGA - Leaders from 10
East European countries hoping to join Nato are due to meet representatives of
the military alliance in the Latvian capital, Riga.<BR>The meeting is the last
before a summit in November at which Nato will decide which applicants have been
successful.<BR>The Riga summit is a chance for each of the 10 countries to gauge
the progress of their applications.<BR>The host country Latvia along with its
Baltic neighbours Estonia and Lithuania have built up their national armed
forces from scratch in the years since winning independence from the former
Soviet Union.<BR>All three plus Slovenia are near the top of many observers'
lists of those likely to have their applications accepted.<BR> <BR>Changing
role<BR> <BR>The chances of two other countries, Bulgaria and Romania, are
widely thought to have greatly improved after the support that they gave to the
United States and its allies in the war against terror.<BR>Two others, Albania
and Macedonia, are believed to have the hardest job because of continuing
instability within each country and within the Balkans.<BR>The other applicants
are Croatia and Slovakia.<BR>Also on the agenda is the debate over what the
security role of Nato will be, especially in the light of the events of 11
September.<BR>Russia, which has a frosty attitude to the possible expansion of
Nato up to its doorstep, says membership will not help countries deal with the
security threats of the modern world: nuclear proliferation and
terrorism.<BR>The location of this summit in Riga, well within the borders of
what used to be part of Nato's old adversary, the former Soviet Union, is a sign
of how much Nato's security role is changing.<BR> <BR>POLISH PRESIDENT
SUGGESTS NEW REGIONAL FORUM AT NATO SUMMIT<BR>BNS, 05 Jul 02<BR> <BR>RIGA,
July 05, BNS - Polish President Aleksander Kwasniewski called for cooperation of
Vilnius Ten and Visegrad group countries in order to unite directions of
integration in NATO of the Central and Southern European
countries.<BR> <BR>Kwasniewski who expressed the appeal to summit of NATO
candidate countries Friday in Riga did not rule out other countries too could
join this initiative.<BR>Kwasniewski said in address to the meeting that there
are concerns that on admission of some countries to NATO the rest will remain in
the status of repulsed therefore Central and Southern European countries should
cooperate to promote the united integration of Europe.<BR>He proposed to discuss
this issue as forming a united platform, improving cooperation between the
candidate countries of Vilnius Ten group and Visegrad group, admitted to NATO in
the last wave of enlargement.<BR>Kwasniewski said the principle of cooperation
would be pluralism and openness as well as building of civic society and market
economy.<BR>He said Poland feels co-responsible for NATO enlargement process and
voiced a hope the meeting participants will be interested in his
appeal.<BR>Kwasniewski discussed his initiative with Latvian President Vaira
Vike-Freiberga earlier in the day. /.../<BR> <BR>SPEECH OF PRESIDENT OF THE
REPUBLIC OF POLAND ALEKSANDER KWAŠNIEWSKI<BR></FONT><A
href="http://www.rigasummit.lv/en/index.html?id=125"><FONT face=Verdana
size=2>http://www.rigasummit.lv/en/index.html?id=125</FONT></A><BR><FONT
face=Verdana size=2> <BR>LATVIAN OFFICIALS PRAISE POLISH PRESIDENT'S
INITIATIVE<BR>BNS, 05 Jul 02<BR> <BR>RIGA, July 05, BNS - Latvian Prime
Minister Andris Berzins and Foreign Minister Indulis Berzins hailed initiative
by Polish President Aleksander Kwasniewski to form a new union of states
embracing cooperation between Vilnius Ten group and Visegrad group
countries.<BR> <BR>Prime Minister Andris Berzins commended Kwasniewski's
initiative saying it would create understanding in the Baltic states about "how
things should happen" on the path to NATO and how to attain this goal
faster.<BR> <BR>He did not rule out other countries too would be interested
in cooperation with the Baltic states in integration in the European Union.
"Very good that there will be united cooperation from North to South," said the
prime minister.<BR>Foreign Minister Indulis Berzins described the initiative of
Kwasniewski as "good and timely". He said the candidate countries foreign
ministers discussed this proposal already Friday and highly appreciated it. He
said the candidate countries should think about what they do after they get
invitation to join the alliance /.../<BR> <BR>LITHUANIA WANTS MORE INFO ON
POLISH PRESIDENT'S INITIATIVE<BR>BNS, 05 Jul 02<BR> <BR>VILNIUS, Jul 05,
BNS - Lithuanian officials have given a positive but discreet evaluation of the
Polish President Alexander Kwasniewski's initiative to form a new regional
organization of European countries out of members of the Vilnius Ten and the
Visegrad group.<BR> <BR>Spokeswoman for Lithuanian President Valdas Adamkus
told BNS that the president would discuss the proposal with his Polish colleague
in the nearest future.<BR>"The Polish leader informed the Lithuanian president
about the initiative before the meeting in Riga. The two presidents agreed to
address implementation of the initiative in the nearest future," said Violeta
Gaizauskaite.<BR>According to information available to BNS, the meeting could
take place on Aug. 2 in Lithuania's port city Klaipeda, which will be marking
its 750th anniversary. All leaders of countries around the Baltic Sea have been
invited to participate in the celebration.<BR>Speaking to reporters in Riga on
Friday, Lithuanian Prime Minister Algirdas Brazauskas described the initiative
as interesting, adding it will "give more strength to this movement and will add
more political weight to Vilnius Ten".<BR>Petras Zapolskas, the director of the
Lithuanian Foreign Ministry's Information and Culture Department, told BNS that
Vilnius expected the Kwasniewski initiative to be "detailed" as soon as
possible.<BR>"It is a welcomed matter designed to unify and consolidate Europe.
We have to do a lot in the region," said Zapolskas.<BR>Speaking to BNS, the head
of the parliamentary Foreign Affairs Committee, MP Gediminas Kirkilas, described
the Kwasniewski initiative as "solid." He said there were several positive
aspects to the proposal.<BR>"There were some disagreements between the Vilnius
Ten and the Visegrad group until now. The new pattern would prevent this. In the
light of the future of the expanded alliance [NATO], the new group would be a
big block boosting security and cooperation within NATO. This is an important
block within the future expanded European Union (EU)," said Kirkilas.<BR>"This
would be a large part of Europe coordinating its positions," the head of the
parliamentary committee added. /.../<BR> <BR>U.S. SENATORS, BALTIC LEADERS
REMEMBER HOLOCAUST IN LATVIA<BR>AFP, 04 Jul 02<BR> <BR>RIGA, July 4 -- U.S.
Senators led by Senate minority leader Trent Lott and accompanied by leaders of
the Baltic states on Thursday recalled July 4 in Riga 61 years ago, when Nazis
locked up Jewish victims in a synagogue and set it ablaze.<BR> <BR>The date
is now Holocaust commemoration day in the small Baltic state.<BR>"The Germans
and their local collaborators set fire to a synagogue into which they locked a
group of people whose only crime was belonging to the Jewish faith", said
Latvian President Vaira Vike-Freiberga. She was speaking at a ceremony at the
only Riga synagogue to survive the Holocaust, commemorating the annihilation of
78,000 Latvian Jews remembered together with all other Holocaust victims.<BR>The
burning of the nearby Choral Synagogue on July 4, 1941, represented the start of
"one of the most tragic periods in the history of this country", Vike-Freiberga
said at the ceremony.<BR>It was attended by five U.S senators, Estonian
President Arnold Ruutel, Lithuanian President Valdas Adamkus, and former White
House national security adviser Zbignew Brzezinski.<BR>Several hundred people
were killed in the Choral Synagogue, mostly Lithuanian Jews as well as Latvian
Jews, when hand grenades were thrown into the building, located in an area
predominantly inhabited by Jews which the nazis transformed into a closed
ghetto.<BR>The vast majority of the 78,000 Jewish victims were shot outside the
city.<BR>The Latvian President warned against any repetition of barbarity: "We
must always be alert to ensure that the watchful human being is always in
control over the sleeping reptile."<BR>"Tomorrow is one day closer to
vindicating the dreams and hopes of those who perished here", said Lott in a
reference to a summit scheduled here Friday and Saturday of 10 eastern and
central European countries seeking NATO membership.<BR>"They will discuss the
steps for a new alliance with a vision of a new world", he added.<BR>The Chief
Rabbi of Riga's tiny Jewish Community, Nathan Barkan, stressed the terrible pain
still felt by the Jews after the Holocaust, but reminded the audience of the
many Latvians, non-Jews and sometimes priests, who helped to save Jews and
managed to the Nazis not to burn down the last Riga synagogue.<BR>Looking to the
future of the country, Rabbi Barkan said he hoped his country would be "a model
to others in its attitude toward the Jews and other minorities."<BR>But Gregory
Krupnikov, one of 40 ghetto survivors, said he wanted the extent of that tragic
event to be more fully acknowledged in Latvia.<BR>"There have been very marked
improvements in just three or four years. We'd like to see it bigger", he told
AFP, in a reference to the introduction of the history of the Holocaust into the
curricula of Latvian schools and universities. "For anyone to accept the idea
that your neighbour became a mass murderer is not easy", he
added.<BR> <BR>US JEWISH COMMITTEE EUROPE DIRECTOR PRAISES LATVIA'S EFFORTS
IN HOLOCAUST COMMEMORATION<BR>BNS, 04 Jul 02<BR> <BR>RIGA, July 04 - The
United States Jewish committee European affairs director Andrew Baker praised
the work performed by Latvia in the Holocaust commemoration and education
sphere.<BR> <BR>In talks with Latvian Foreign Minister Indulis Berzins
Thursday in Riga, discussing the Holocaust research and work of Latvia's
historians committee, Baker praised the work performed by Latvia in
implementation of the historians committee work as well as in revival of
Latvia's Jewish community. Berzins reported to Baker about separate aspects in
the Holocaust education implemented in Latvia. He said a travelling exhibition
has been formed "Latvia's Jewish community -- history, tragedy, revival" and,
Latvia's action plan on education about the Holocaust, its research and
commemoration is being implemented and also that regular seminars are held for
teachers on the Holocaust teaching at schools.<BR>The officials during the
meeting also discussed NATO enlargement and, Baker affirmed the strong support
of the committee to further enlargement process of NATO.<BR>Berzins also met
with American Foreign Policy National Committee President George Schwab and
Steven Springfield, representing the association of the Holocaust survivors in
the United States.<BR>The officials during the talks with Latvian foreign
minister praised the changes that have taken place in Latvia after the
restoration of the country's independence. The officials also exchanged opinions
on further prospects of NATO enlargement and Latvia's contribution to
Trans-Atlantic security.<BR> <BR>= DOCUMENTS =<BR>SPECIAL MESSAGE BY THE
PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES, GEORGE W. BUSH<BR></FONT><A
href="http://www.rigasummit.lv/en/index.html?id=124"><FONT face=Verdana
size=2>http://www.rigasummit.lv/en/index.html?id=124</FONT></A><BR><FONT
face=Verdana size=2> <BR>THE RT. HON. TONY BLAIR'S MESSAGE FOR THE V10
SUMMIT IN RIGA<BR></FONT><A
href="http://www.rigasummit.lv/en/index.html?id=123"><FONT face=Verdana
size=2>http://www.rigasummit.lv/en/index.html?id=123</FONT></A><BR><FONT
face=Verdana size=2> <BR>"THERE IS ROOM FOR ALL. NATO IS YOUR HOUSE OF MANY
MANSIONS"<BR>ADDRESS TO SPECIAL SESSION OF RIGA SUMMIT 2002 BY SENATOR TRENT
LOTT, MINORITY LEADER OF THE UNITED STATES SENATE: </FONT><A
href="http://www.rigasummit.lv/en/index.html?id=117"><FONT face=Verdana
size=2>http://www.rigasummit.lv/en/index.html?id=117</FONT></A><BR><FONT
face=Verdana size=2> <BR>SENATOR LOTT TELLS VILNIUS GROUP "THERE IS ROOM
FOR ALL" IN NATO<BR></FONT><A
href="http://www.rigasummit.lv/en/index.html?id=119"><FONT face=Verdana
size=2>http://www.rigasummit.lv/en/index.html?id=119</FONT></A><BR><FONT
face=Verdana size=2> <BR>BY H. E. DR. VAIRA VIKE-FREIBERGA, PRESIDENT OF
LATVIA, AT THE<BR>RIGA 2002 - BRIDGE TO PRAGUE SUMMIT OF THE NATO ASPIRANT
COUNTRIES<BR></FONT><A
href="http://www.rigasummit.lv/en/index.html?id=122"><FONT face=Verdana
size=2>http://www.rigasummit.lv/en/index.html?id=122</FONT></A><BR><FONT
face=Verdana size=2> <BR>STATE PRESIDENT VAIRA VIKE-FREIBERGA'S ADDRESS TO
THE US SENATORS<BR></FONT><A
href="http://www.rigasummit.lv/en/index.html?id=105"><FONT face=Verdana
size=2>http://www.rigasummit.lv/en/index.html?id=105</FONT></A><BR><FONT
face=Verdana size=2> <BR>ADDRESS BY THE HE MR ANDRIS BERZINS TO INTRODUCE
SPEECH OF US SENATOR T. LOTT: <BR></FONT><A
href="http://www.rigasummit.lv/en/index.html?id=118"><FONT face=Verdana
size=2>http://www.rigasummit.lv/en/index.html?id=118</FONT></A><BR><FONT
face=Verdana size=2> <BR>WELCOME BY THE HE MR ANDRIS BERZINS, PRIME
MINISTER OF LATVIA<BR></FONT><A
href="http://www.rigasummit.lv/en/index.html?id=121"><FONT face=Verdana
size=2>http://www.rigasummit.lv/en/index.html?id=121</FONT></A><BR><FONT
face=Verdana size=2> <BR>ADDRESS BY THE SPEAKER OF THE SAEIMA MR. JANIS
STRAUME AT THE UNIVERSITY OF LATVIA: </FONT><A
href="http://www.rigasummit.lv/en/index.html?id=120"><FONT face=Verdana
size=2>http://www.rigasummit.lv/en/index.html?id=120</FONT></A><BR><FONT
face=Verdana size=2> <BR>SPEECH OF PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF POLAND
ALEKSANDER KWAŠNIEWSKI<BR></FONT><A
href="http://www.rigasummit.lv/en/index.html?id=125"><FONT face=Verdana
size=2>http://www.rigasummit.lv/en/index.html?id=125</FONT></A><BR><FONT
face=Verdana size=2> <BR> <BR> = MORE HEADLINES =<BR>* US
SENATE'S REPUBLICAN LEADER APPLAUDS 10 NATO HOPEFULS - AFP, 05 Jul 02<BR>* NATO
HOPEFULS EAGER FOR WESTERN SUPPORT AT LAST SUMMIT BEFORE - AFP, 05 Jul 02, by
Nick Coleman<BR>* COUNTRIES PUSH FOR NATO MEMBERSHIP - Las Vegas Sun / AP, 04
Jul 02<BR>* COUNTRIES PUSH FOR NATO MEMBERSHIP - Washington Post / AP, 04 Jul
02</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Verdana><FONT size=2><SPAN lang=EN-US
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA">*
LEADERS OF NATIONS BIDDING TO JOIN NATO MEET - Wall Street Journal / AP, 05 Jul
02</SPAN><BR>* BALTIC PRESIDENTS CALL FOR SOLIDARITY BEFORE NATO CANDIDATE
SUMMIT - DPA, 04 Jul 02</FONT></FONT></DIV>
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