On day one of the Seminar, in the opening part, moderated by Mr David Hobbs, Secretary General of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly, the participants were greeted with welcoming words by the following: Mr Alejandro Alvargonzales, Assistant Secretary General for Political Affairs and Security Policy, NATO representative, and then Mr Madeleine Moon, President of the NATO PA, and Ms Nadine Olivieri Lozano, Head of Division for Security Policy at the Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs.
In honour of the founders and architects of this programme, the participants were addressed by Mr Ripley Rand, partner and representative of the Womble Bond Dickinson from the United States of America in honour of Mr Charlie Rose, and then Mr Ian Brzezinski, Senior Fellow at the Atlantic Council, in honour of Mr William Roth.
In session one on “The genesis of NATO partnership and enlargement policies” with the same moderator, the participants were addressed on this topic by Mr Robert Hunter, former United States Ambassador, Mr Jan Petersen, Former Minister of Foreign Affairs of Norway, and then Mr Witold Waszczykowski, former Minister of Foreign Affairs of Poland.
This was followed by the time allocated for Q&A, for the most part dedicated to the partnership policy of the alliance, its history, the results achieved in the previous period and the plans for the upcoming period. On this occasion, they emphasised the significance of joint and united action of the NATO alliance members in the said context, continuous capacity building for the purpose of reaching the set goals and providing strong support to the system of collective security. The participants’ discussion was also dedicated to the issues of enlargement policy of the alliance, the course of this process, especially respecting the significance of conditions for full membership achieved and efforts made by the aspirant countries, and thus contributing to the collective security system.
The continuation of work of this jubilee 100 Rose-Roth Seminar dedicated to the NATO Rose-Roth Programme and NATO parliamentary dimension of enlargement, moderated by Mr Simon Lunn, former Secretary General of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly, included presentations by the following: Ian Brzezinski, Senior Fellow - representative of the Atlantic Council, then Mr Karsten Voigt, former President of the NATO PA and member of the presidium of the German Council on Foreign Policy, and Mr Rasa Juknevičienė, former Defence Minister of Lithuania and former President of the NATO PA.
This was followed by the discussion for the most part dedicated to the history of the Rose-Roth Programme and its course of development, as well as the topics that were in the focus of dialogue and exchange of views of the NATO PA delegates, and they also made an overview of the achieved results as well as plans and expectations for the upcoming period. The attention of the participants in this seminar, in this part of the discussion, was also directed towards the NATO open doors policy and the parliamentary dimension of the said issue.
Within the third session of the Seminar entitled “The unfinished business of NATO’s open door policy”, led by Mr Ojārs Ēriks Kalniņš, Head of Latvia's Permanent Delegation to the NATO Parliamentary Assembly, the participants were given presentations on the said topic by the following: Mr Alejandro Alvargonzález, Assistant Secretary General for Political Affairs and Security Policy, Mr Borys Tarasyuk, former Minister for Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, followed by Mr Giorgi Baramidze, member of the Political Council of the United National Movement and former Deputy Prime Minister of Georgia and former head of the Georgian delegation to the NATO Parliamentary Assembly, as well as Mr Asim Sarajlić, member of the Delegation of Bosnia and Herzegovina to the NATO PA.
Participants' dialogue in this part of the session was oriented towards the NATO open door policy, the course of development and the results achieved in this respect, with a reference to the expectations of the Alliance and the aspiring countries. Based on the discussion that followed, and bearing in mind the significance of the issue raised, the participants jointly noted the significance of the aspiring countries reaching the level of readiness and fulfilment of the conditions for full membership, continuous cooperation and ensuring a high level of security, as the ultimate goal and common good.
The end of the first day of the jubilee 100th Rose-Roth Seminar of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly was marked by the topic of “NATO’s partnership with non-aspiring countries”, moderated by Mr Dennis Sammut, Executive Director of LINKS (Dialogue, Analysis, Research), where participants were addressed by Mr James Mackay, Head of the Office of Euro-Atlantic and Global Partnership in the Political Affairs and Security Policy Division at NATO Headquarters, and Mr Jean-Michel Boucheron, former Vice-President of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly.
The Seminar will continue its work tomorrow.
