Remarks

Hon. Prof. Enrico La Loggia

President of the Italian Atlantic Committee

Rome, Center for High Defense Studies, 27th September 2006

 

The analyses of the Rome Atlantic Forum encompass all the major issues on the NATO security agenda, and there is therefore no need for me to address any other strategic question. However, let me congratulate you for the high level of the Reports and discussions and let me say how much I welcome this Forum.
 
First of all, this Forum brings back personal happy memories, when as a young graduate I won a NATO scholarship to conduct a comparative analysis on the national defense budgets of the Allied countries. On that occasion, I had the opportunity to visit several Research Centers and to participate in meeting like this, which were very helpful in conducting my project. Although my professional, academic, and political career engaged me mainly in other fields, I always kept up my Atlantic links.
 
Although the NATO core values and goals have remained the same - that is, the security of our societies, freedoms, and values - the items on the agenda have dramatically changed. September 11 demonstrated that open and free societies were unprepared for acts of war in peacetime. Our Governments were therefore obliged to base on new parameters the equation between security and freedom.
 
Among the international organizations, NATO demonstrated extraordinary capacity in transforming itself in order to better respond to the challenges and asymmetric threats of the new security scenario.
 
The Prague and Istanbul Summits transformed the Alliance and its instruments and - despite pessimistic forecasts - NATO is more alive today than ever.
  
At present NATO is:

• Playing a decisive role in the Balkans, aimed at the full integration of the region in the Euro-Atlantic structures;
  
• Building a free and democratic Afghanistan;
  
• Helping the Iraqi Government with a training mission;
  
• Countering terrorism in the Mediterranean (Operation Active Endeavour);
  
• Promoting a Cooperation Initiative in the Persian Gulf;
  
• Supporting the African Union and its operation in Darfur.
  

During the next Summit in Riga, NATO is called upon to define its "level of ambition", partnerships, and what some recent editorials are calling its "Identity".
 
To this end, the contribution made by the Rome Atlantic Forum is of particular relevance because it reflects the vision of the Tomorrow's Leaders on the Future of Euro-Atlantic Security.
 
However, the fundamental value of the Forum is the friendship established among all of us – citizens of nearly fifty different countries – during the working program. A spirit of friendship and cooperation that must be kept alive and strengthened in coming years, as it represents the highest achievement of our Forum and, in fact, a real guarantee for the future of our security.
 
It is indeed in this very spirit that I supported the organization of the Forum. And I am particularly grateful to the Italian Center for High Defense Studies and to all the national and foreign institutions that contributed to the success of the Forum.

 

 
 
 

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November 28 - 29. Think Tank representatives, Researchers and Young Political Leaders, will meet in Riga in parallel meetings and educational programs that will be addressed by the NATO Heads of State and Government.  >>

Atlantic Council of Albania

Tirana, November 18. Educational Seminar on Euro-Atlantic Values and the Cooperation for Security.

International Seminar in Milan

October 19 - 21. A three days Seminar, organized by the Catholic University and promoted by the Italian Atlantic Committee, brought together researchers, students and academicians, that analyzed NATO and the New Challenges to the Military Force and Diplomacy.