Bulgarian Diplomatic Review interviewed all ambassadors of the countries that joined the North Atlantic Alliance together with Bulgaria on March 29. Their Excellencies were kind enough to answer our questions:

• How do you assess the role of your country in the efforts of the international community for peacekeeping, strengthening of security and the fight against terrorism?
• What do you expect from your NATO membership?
• What is your opinion on the further enlargement of the security zone?

H.E. Mr. Aivo Orav Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Estonia

The membership in NATO is the beginning of a new era in the Estonian security policy. The membership was a dream for us but thanks to the international efforts as well as for our own aspirations we are full member now with all the obligations and privileges from March 29. The general feeling in Estonia is that being a member of NATO and soon also member of EU our security situation has never been on such a level.

Obligations in NATO are different from those with which we figured when we set our goal of acceding to NATO. The NATO has naturally preserved its main goal of being an organization that provides collective security for all its members, however an ever larger amount of NATO activities take place outside NATO’s borders.

Estonia’s participation in international operations has been efficient and must continue. Be it soldiers or pilots, doctors or explosive detecting dogs, mine clearers or police officers, peacekeepers or rescuers, all of their work increases world security and surely Estonia’s as well. Our participation can never be significant in absolute terms. We will not have a tank brigade or powerful air force, but this is not expected of us. Taking into consideration that we are a small nation with modest and limited resources, we have participated with remarkable success. Estonian men and women are in Afghanistan, we have 55 military persons in Iraq. Estonian units are participating in Kosovo and in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The new security threats are global. It is important that the countries which share the same values join their efforts to fight against those threats. And here is not important how small or big the country is. Estonia is prepared to tackle with those challenges in co-operation with the like-minded countries. Our defense forces must be prepared, in addition to providing homeland security to actively take part in international crises hot spots.

The open door policy was very important for my country and being now member of NATO we continue to support it. It means that 3 NATO candidates who were not invited to join should get invitations as soon as possible.

H.E. Mr. Dainius Junevicius Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Lithuania

The Republic of Lithuania played a role in promoting security abroad and in combating international threats. Since 1994, the Lithuanian Armed Forces have demonstrated this commitment by deploying over 1,300 servicemen on missions to the Balkans and, most recently, Afghanistan and Iraq. Currently, 270 Lithuanian military personnel are involved in operations abroad.

These missions give the maturing Lithuanian Armed Forces opportunities to put their training into practice. Lithuanian troops hone techniques and tactics while serving alongside NATO and UN allies in danger zones. Deployments abroad demonstrate that Lithuanian soldiers are well qualified to meet challenges presented by the demanding operations. So I believe we will be continuing this fine tradition. We have a good track record in this field. And we will continue to build on that.

We are in the unique situation of having had to build our armed forces from scratch. So we have been able to do it right, in a sense. We have been really focusing on building mobile, effective, rapidly deployable units. We will continue to build on this and to focus on developing modern armed forces. Our military reform, designed to build even more mobile, rapidly deployable and better-equipped defense forces, is on track.

I am also convinced that we will be able to continue and strengthen that contribution we have been making to different operations, over a dozen this far, in terms of deployable units and also work on developing niche capabilities where we have something concrete to offer to the Alliance.

Our political commitment also remains strong. On the 17th of March, Lithuanian political parties agreed to extend a defense agreement, which commits the allocation of at least 2 per cent of GDP to national defense expenditures through 2008.This agreement, reached in an election year, clearly reflects Lithuania’s determination to be an active contributor to transatlantic security.

Our membership in NATO was achieved by consensus among the major political parties, the continuity of policies in all consecutive Lithuanian governments and strong public support.Our first expectation is a full legitimization of our return to the European and transatlantic family of nations. So with this membership comes our return to the Euro-Atlantic mainstream.

Also, I believe it is the culmination of many years of hard work. But there are no illusions about the work that still needs to be done. And obviously we see this as the reinforcement of our national security interest, namely that we will be receiving the hard security guarantees that we have worked for so long.

And last, but not least, I would say that one associates stability and security with the word NATO. And we are convinced that it will become a great advantage for our economy and investment climate.

In regard of the enlargement Lithuania’s position does not differ from that of Bulgaria. We support the efforts of Albania, Croatia and Macedonia for NATO membership. We must make sure that no European democracy is excluded from the European mainstream. We believe that the Vilnius spirit and rationale behind it – solidarity instead of competition – should be maintained and further strengthened by current and future aspirants. Recently, Lithuanian position on NATO expansion was confirmed by Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Lithuania Mr. Antanas Valionis in his speech at the Ceremonial Session of the North Atlantic Council on the Occasion of the Accession of Seven New Members to the Alliance. I quote: “We call on all NATO Allies to recognize the achievements of Albania, Croatia and Macedonia at the upcoming Summit in Istanbul.” The next step should be the invitation for these countries for fully-fledged membership. The door to NATO should remain open.

Dr. Teodor Tolea Charge´ d’Affaires of the Embassy of Romania

Even before being accepted as a full-fledged NATO member, Romania has participated actively in the fight against terrorism. The necessary political, economic and military structures were created to contribute to its success. In the first place, I would stress the bilateral cooperation developed by Romania with different partner countries in the field. I will always mention the trilateral meetings in which Romania participates and which aim at providing security. As far as I know, there are already talks about a future quadrilateral meeting, a quadrilateral format. It will continue the already known format 2 plus 2 and will naturally replace the previous trilateral formats, comprising beside Romania and Bulgaria, Turkey and Greece, respectively. In a wider aspect the regional structures in which my country participates in order to promote stability, security and effective fight against terrorism. Here I mean above all the OSCE. At world level Romania invests the same efforts also as a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council. In this capacity Romania has concrete tasks in the fights against terrorism in different regions of the world. Let us not forget the concrete participation of Romania in the peacekeeping international forces in Kosovo, Afghanistan and Iraq. Of course, these participations cost Romania not only material but also human sacrifice. This participation is part of the Romanian commitment to the joint efforts for promotion of peace and security. This is our effort to prove that Romania is not merely a consumer but a producer of security.

Regarding our expectations as a full-fledged NATO member, I already mentioned that even before this membership Romania was a producer of security. And I think that this was the leading motive for NATO to admit us. Briefly, I can say that Romania will expect from NATO security in the framework of the Washington Treaty and will accordingly participate in the creation of security in the organisation. So we are really looking not only at our rights but also at our obligations.

The new stage of NATO enlargement, which included Bulgaria and Romania, is not merely a need for security. It is also a sign and a need for Europe to adapt in accordance with the globalisation process, which is practically dictated by the objective neccessity of development of the communities of the world. The opposite of globalisation is isolation. To this alternative we naturally prefer globalisation. What actually happened now was an enlargement of the security zone to the East. We, the newly-acceded countries, had our common values shared with NATO even before the membership. That is why it seems normal to me this enlargement of the security zone to continue with the gradual inclusion of other regions that share or will share the same values. And here I do not mean the religious element. Let us note that now in NATO there is one Muslim country – Turkey, but it shares the same basic values with the West. And this is a proof that Islam, or at least part of it, can share the common values. In this connection I think that it is normal the security zone enlargement to continue.