INTRODUCTION BY LORD ROBERTSON, NATO SECRETARY GENERAL

Good morning.

When we set the date for this meeting none of us could have imagined or even dared to hope hat it would come at such a significant time.

The events of the last week can truly be described as historic and offer the hope of adecisive turning point in a region of Europe scarred by tragedy for most of the last decade. But for all those who wish Yugoslavia well there is now a major challenge to turn this hope for reform into reality.

We all know that in Southeastern Europe and the Former Yugoslavia there is an enormous opportunity. The international community must and will do everything it can to help the Yugoslav people chart their course to their true place as a full part of the Euro- Atlantic community.

Meanwhile NATO and the international community will continue to carry out their missions in Kosovo and Bosnia. It is too early to identify exactly how the changes in Yugoslavia will affect the region, but rest assured KFOR and SFOR our troops in Kosovo and Bosnia will continue to provide a bedrock of security and stability as long as is needed.

Inevitably the Balkans will play a big part in today's talks, but we are also facing other key issues. Although clearly an overall success, last year's air campaign also revealed shortcomings in our militaries that we are now addressing. After years of decreasing defence budgets, I believe we have now won the argument and that it's time to reverse that trend. There must be constant effort to reform our armed forces to make them more suited to the new threats of the 21st century.

NATO is also continuing to evolve and adapt to new circumstances. This includes very much the new relationship with the EU, where our two organizations are working well together as the EU develops a force capable of carrying out peacekeeping tasks if NATO is not involved. The recent crisis in the Balkans has also proved the value and maturity of our relations with other NATO's Partners in the Euro-Atlantic Partnership Council and the Partnership for Peace. These links encompass virtually every nation in the Euro-Atlantic zone, and I look forward, more now than ever, to the time when every European nation is involved with us.

I would now like to give the floor to our host, Geoff Hoon, for any introductory remarks he would like to make.

Thank you.

On its one-year anniversary of transferring authority for operations in Kosovo, the ARRC prepares to once again prove its readiness to serve as NATO's premier headquarters for crisis situations. MOENCHENGLADBACH, Germany-The Allied Command Europe Rapid Reaction Corps is making final preparations this week for a deployment involving 5,500 people in a warfighting exercise that will test and hone its ability to serve as NATO's spearhead in crisis operations.

The exercise involves division and brigade-level headquarters from 11 of NATO's 19 member nations, in addition to the Corps' own multinational staff. It takes place primarily in the vicinity of Wildflecken and Fulda, Germany, although units will also be participating from bases in Italy, Spain and Turkey.

A robust scenario places the ARRC headquarters as the Land Component Command for a high-intensity conflict involving five NATO divisions, as well as a variety of combat support and combat service support formations. Using a computer-aided Command Post Exercise, the Corps is able to realistically simulate this scenario without placing entire divisions and brigades in the field. Instead, only formations' headquarters are involved in order to exercise the decision-making process of commanders and their staffs, while exercise controllers replicate both the enemy and the actions of subordinate commands.

This 14-day exercise is the ARRC's key training event this year, consummating months of intense training following operations in the Balkans. One year ago today, the headquarters performed its final act as the initial-entry force in Kosovo, transferring authority for operations there to NATO's LANDCENT command. Now, the ARRC will demonstrate how it has combined lessons learned during deployment with ongoing training and operations to become an even better and more capable asset for the NATO alliance.

The ARRC is manned by personnel from 17 of NATO's 19 member nations. ARRC affiliated units participating in the exercise come from Denmark, France, Hungary, Italy, Spain, Turkey, the United Kingdom, and the United States. The headquarters of Multinational Division (Central), made up of forces from Belgium, Germany, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom, will take part as a deployed formation.

(NATO press release 10 October 2000)