NATO secretary General Mr. Jaap De Hoop Scheffer's welcome massage for Eurasian Media Forum 21st April 2005

For the past several years, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization has been pleased to be associated with the Eurasian Media Forum, and we are very happy to be among the sponsors of this Fourth Forum.

NATO views the Eurasian Media Forum as an important opportunity to communicate the Alliance’s role as a modern, versatile security actor – an alliance of 26 free, sovereign nations who are fully aware of the risks and challenges posed by the new security environment, and who are determined to use the significant political and military tools available through NATO to help build peace and stability. This is what we are doing, and will continue to do, in Afghanistan.

NATO is an alliance, also, that is well aware of the strategic importance of Central Asia in the new security environment. Not one of our countries is immune from the threats posed by terrorism, the spread of weapons of mass destruction, and instability caused by failed states. We must work together to meet, and to defeat, these threats. NATO is keen to engage its partner countries in Central Asia in this common effort, which we are doing through my Special Representative, Ambassador Simmons, and the Liaison Officer that we have sent to this region. In this context, I welcome Kazakhstan’s readiness to engage in a wide-ranging cooperation with the Alliance, focusing on defence reform, interoperability and combating terrorism.

NATO is a community of shared values – democracy, human rights, the rule of law, and fundamental freedoms, including freedom of the media. Those values are our best defence against the new threats before us. NATO is determined to protect these values, and to promote them, including in our partner countries. And that is one more, important, reason why we are glad to be associated with the Eurasian Media Forum.

I extend to you our best wishes for an interesting and productive meeting over the next few days.