    [Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 32, Number 36 (Monday, September 9, 1996)]
    [Page 1671]
    [Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

    <R04>
    Statement on the 1997 North Atlantic Treaty Organization Summit

    September 6, 1996

        Today, at my request, Secretary of State Christopher called for a
    NATO summit next year to take the next steps on adapting and enlarging
    the NATO Alliance and preparing it for the 21st century.
        At the last NATO summit in Brussels in January 1994, my fellow NATO
    heads of government and I set out an ambitious agenda to adapt NATO to
    the opportunities and challenges of the new century. We agreed that NATO
    would take on new roles and missions in pursuit of peace. We agreed to
    strengthen the European pillar of the Alliance to promote greater
    European responsibility and burdensharing. And we agreed to reach out to
    Europe's new and emerging democracies through creation of the
    Partnership For Peace and by moving, steadily and deliberately, to add
    new members to the Alliance. We were determined to end the cold war
    division of Europe and create, for the first time in history, a Europe
    united in peace, democracy, and free market prosperity.
        The results are impressive: NATO already has taken on new roles and
    missions. The Alliance's successful IFOR operation in Bosnia, undertaken
    with broad participation by non-NATO members, has brought peace to that
    beleaguered country. NATO is reshaping its military side to make it
    better able to take on new missions while strengthening the European
    defense role within the Alliance. We are continuing to deepen and
    enhance the Partnership For Peace, which has created unprecedented links
    between NATO and the nations of Central and Eastern Europe and the
    former Soviet Union. And we are intensifying our efforts to build a
    strong partnership between NATO and Russia. NATO has also been making
    great strides in its preparations for enlargement, holding intensive
    consultations on the requirements and responsibilities of membership
    with many of Europe's emerging new democracies.
        I believe that NATO heads of government should meet in the spring or
    early summer of next year to take the next decisive steps. This summit
    would invite the first group of aspiring NATO members to begin accession
    talks to bring them into the Alliance. It would announce a major
    enhancement of the Partnership For Peace. It would also finalize work in
    adapting the NATO military structure to provide a more distinctive
    European role with full Allied participation. Finally, the summit would,
    we hope, confirm establishment of a broad and deep NATO-Russia
    partnership for the long term.
        I call on my fellow NATO heads of government to join with me in this
    endeavor. Together, we can make this summit the most historic and
    forward-looking in the history of our NATO Alliance, furthering our
    vision of an undivided Europe, and building a bridge of peace and
    security, democracy and prosperity to the 21st century.