[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.