Press Availability at NATO Headquarters

UNDER SECRETARY GROSSMAN: First, thank you all very much for coming. My name is Marc Grossman. I’m the Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs. I apologize that we’ve kept you waiting a few minutes but we had a very good and full discussion at the North Atlantic Council.

If I might just take an opportunity here to make a short statement and then I’d be glad to answer questions as people have them.

I’ve come to Brussels today to visit first with the North Atlantic Council and then I’m on my way to pay a call or two at the European Union, at the end of a trip which has taken me this week so far from Morocco to Egypt to Bahrain to Jordan, and now to Brussels.

In each of the countries we visited we had a chance to meet with representatives of governments and also with civil society, and we appreciated all of the time people spent with us.

The effort that I am making is to try to explain and promote an idea that President Bush has, that we ought to be able to position the United States in support of those people in the region who are interested in reform and interested in democracy and interested in freedom. So I was taking the opportunity to listen to views and to consult with governments and members of civil society and also to explain the American position.

I found in the Middle East a great interest -- and a great conversation -- in reform. I found people referring to the Declarations last year in Aqaba and this year in Sanaa. I found people referring to the work of the Arab Business Council and looking forward to the very important meeting of the Alexandria Library in the middle of the month. And I heard all around the recognition that reform was a very important part of both a government agenda in the Middle East and also the agenda of civil society.

We tried our very best to say that, from our perspective, there are things that were very important. First, that the best ideas will come from the region. That this is not about the United States or Europe or anyone else imposing reform on people. The best ideas will come from the region.

Second, that all of the countries in the region are different.

Third, that people will pursue reform and change at a pace that is good for them and their societies and that we, as our President said, are patient about this.

Finally, that we want to look forward to supporting this kind of reform.

I was also greatly benefited in my visit to the Middle East to have public support for reform from people like the Foreign Minister of Germany, Foreign Minister Fischer, who spoke in Wehrkunde about his views; the Foreign Minister of France who talked about the need for a serious partnership with the Middle East; statements from the government of Italy; the joint statement of Chancellor Schroeder and President Bush. So all of those allowed me to say that we were not alone in this desire to support reform in the Middle East.

This morning at the North Atlantic Council I gave a report on my trip. I talked about these principles that seem important to us. I talked about some of the ways that we might move forward.

I report to you that I found a very positive response. This issue of supporting reform is clearly on the agenda in the trans-Atlantic relationship. I was very grateful for the ideas and the points that people made, and I will obviously take them back to Washington.

I would say to you that NATO is going to be part of this conversation about change in the Middle East and that NATO has something very important to offer. How this will come out specifically is for the Council to decide. There are still some discussions to be had. But I feel in finishing this morning that there are some very important opportunities there for NATO and for other organizations and institutions to support reform from the region.

Why don’t I stop there. I’ll be glad to take a few questions.

Yes, sir?

QUESTION: You talked about a lot of good ideas throughout the region, [inaudible]. Can you give us an idea, the kind of ideas that are [inaudible]? We don’t see [inaudible] from there.

UNDER SECRETARY GROSSMAN: Let me give you some ideas.

For example, we have been involved for some years in what we call the Middle East Partnership Initiative. The Middle East Partnership Initiative is designed to work with both governments and with civil society in very practical ways to promote more democracy and freedom.

For example, we have programs that try to support non-governmental organizations. We have programs that support the empowerment of women. We have programs that try to help parliamentarians meet their responsibilities. We have all these kinds of programs that are very practical and very focused and very much designed to promote democracy, and in each country that I visited we are supporting those kinds of programs and we look forward to supporting even more of them -- not just in these countries but in others that would be interested as well.

Yes, ma’am?

QUESTION: Mr. Grossman, there are an awful lot of plans going around now. There’s the Anglo-French, the Franco-German plan, the British plan, your plan, the G-8, NATO, [inaudible] as you know. What do you want to do with all these plans? I mean do you want to actually integrate them into one set of proposals and then bring them back to the Middle East and discuss them? What’re the practical steps you want to do?

UNDER SECRETARY GROSSMAN: I think there are two things that are worth saying here. First, that because there are all these plans, it seems to me that it’s very clear that this issue – how to support reform in the area – is on the agenda. It’s on everybody’s agenda. And the fact that there are all these plans seems to me a huge advantage. I don’t worry about it. I think it’s a positive.

Second, it seems to me that, practically, going forward there are two ways to proceed. One is that there are going to be bilateral and multilateral initiatives in the region. So if France and Germany, if other countries with to pursue their own bilateral interests in the region like we do with the Middle East Partnership Initiative, I think that’s excellent.

But there’s also a chance over the next few months to see if we can’t find some way to use the comparative advantage, as the British Ambassador said this morning, of the G-8 meeting in June, of the U.S.-E.U. Summit also in June, and very importantly, the NATO Summit coming in Istanbul. Each of those meetings will have a separate role to play. Each might have some ideas to contribute.

So I think if we can all work together here and promote the ideas for reform in the region, and then, if we’re lucky, when we get together at the G-8 or in Dublin or in Istanbul, these organizations and groups would be able to respond to the calls for reform in the region.

So the fact that there are lots of ideas out there, I think that’s a plus. I hope people will pursue them energetically. I don’t think there’s any reason that they all have to be on one sheet of paper with one group of people, but let us please find a way to use the Summits coming up in June to our advantage. And not just to our advantage but to the advantage of those people seeking reform in the Middle East.

Yes, sir?

QUESTION: Mr. Grossman, could you be a little bit more specific on what you expect NATO to do in this initiative? And why a military alliance should be involved in what seems to be fundamentally non-military issues regarding political reform?

UNDER SECRETARY GROSSMAN: Two things. First, NATO of course is already involved with the NATO Mediterranean Dialogue. That dialogue is a very important part of the business of this alliance. The United States supported that dialogue when it was created, we support it today and we’re going to support it in the future. We think, in fact, it ought to be made more energetic and that there are more things that can be done with the NATO-Mediterranean Dialogue. So NATO is already involved in this.

Second, and again this has to be discussed and I do not say to you that there is consensus on this. I say there is a discussion on this. Why not look to a day when NATO might be able to offer expertise to countries in the region? For example, there was just a terrible earthquake in Morocco. Why not think about a day when NATO with its civil emergency planning expertise might be able to work with a country like Morocco? Why not think about a time when NATO could offer some interest in border security for example? Why not think about a day -- when we’re so focused as NATO is yesterday and today on trafficking in persons --why couldn’t NATO be involved in some fashion with talking to countries about trafficking? Whether it’s trafficking in persons, trafficking in narcotics, trafficking in drugs, trafficking in weapons of mass destruction. So I think there are ways for NATO to be involved.

The third thing I would say, I apologize, I said there were two, there are really three. The third thing I would say is we want to go forward with supporting ideas for reform – economic reform, political reform, educational reform, empowerment of women in the Middle East. But all of those things will be so much more successful if there’s also security and I think NATO has some role to play in that.

I want to be clear. NATO is a military alliance. NATO does what it does. So I’m not saying that all of these things are NATO’s job. I’m saying that NATO has a job to do and we look forward to reaching consensus on what that might be over the next few weeks.

I’ll take one more. Yes, sir?

QUESTION: Mr. Grossman, there is a very complex question which is the Middle East problem, and all Arab countries and I think even a lot of Europeans believe that without peace [inaudible] solution, a lot of reforms [inaudible] still to be blocked.

UNDER SECRETARY GROSSMAN: One of the things that I said, sir, in all of my stops in the Middle East, and I said in the North Atlantic Council and I will say here to you, is that no one should believe that our idea to support reform in the Middle East is a substitute in any way, not a substitute in any way, for our interest in the Middle East peace process. We are at work on this every day. We work on it with the parties. We work on it with the Quartet. We’re going to continue to work on this. So these ideas about reform and these ideas about supporting reform are not a substitute for work on the Middle East Peace Process.

I would say, sir, also the reverse is true -- which is that a number of Ambassadors said today that although we need to recognize that these things are out there together, that you can’t wait until there’s a complete peace in order to promote reform. So it’s not a substitute, but it’s not an excuse for doing nothing either.

Thank you all very much. I appreciate it.