Dear Friends,
It is my great pleasure to be here and welcome to Bucharest a group of such promising young professionals. I thank the Atlantic Council of the United States and the Council of Romania-Casa NATO for organizing this “youth summit”, already a tradition for NATO Summits after Prague and Istanbul.
I also want to thank Director Maior and his institution for supporting this event and I would also like to thank the Atlantic Treaty Association – NATO’s community of Atlantic NGOs.
In its more than half a century of activity, the ATA has served a crucial role in the life of our Atlantic Alliance – giving our civil societies, our academic and business communities, an important role in shaping the agenda and decisions of NATO leaders.
I see the Young Atlanticist Forum as a place for provocative and creative debate on the major issues concerning the North -Atlantic Alliance nowadays, in the stimulating context of the Bucharest NATO Summit.
We count on you to bring fresh ideas and prospects to our vision and to the strategic security thinking.
Dear Friends,
Romania today is a thriving economy, a country on the move, a country proud of its culture and heritage yet committed to its own future.
We are a country on an irreversible path.
We now rightfully take our place on the world stage as an equal with our allies in North America and Europe.
For all these reasons, I think you can understand why we are so proud to host this NATO Summit.
We are truly not only an appropriate venue for the largest gathering ever sponsored by the most successful Alliance in the modern world but THE appropriate city and country.
The people of Romania have experienced tyranny in its worst forms.
The people of Romania have known oppression.
The people of Romania have seen the flame of freedom almost extinguished. But we never lost our hope.
In this context I remember an obsessive reflection of Franz Kafka:
“By believing passionately in something that still does not exist, we create it. The nonexistent is whatever we have not sufficiently desired.”
We the Romanians as well as other nations in the former Soviet block never lost our thirst for freedom and liberty and the firm spirit that makes us today valued partners and allies.
After Romania joined NATO and the EU, we felt that we had finally regained our rightful place in the community of nations.
This gathering today is the culmination of years of hard work, of doing the right thing, which is how true partners and allies can act.
Yet it is with pride that young Romanians stand shoulder to shoulder with Europeans and North Americans throughout the globe.
We are involved around the world in a variety of peacekeeping efforts because we know how important it is to help those who share the longing for a better world.
To share the dream that life must be better for their children.
To act in solidarity with those believing that equality and freedom are always worth fighting for.
Dear young Atlanticists,
These days in Bucharest we will have one of the most challenging Allied summits in history.
The Alliance is at a time of crucial decision making regarding its operation in Afghanistan, its cooperation and partnership patterns and its future role.
Major decisions will also be taken on the role of NATO in bringing stability and strengthening Euro-Atlantic values in the Balkans and the Black Sea region.
Romania is a strong advocate of an increased Allied role to the East, with an emphasis on the Black Sea region as an area of rapidly increasing relevance to Euro-Atlantic security.
Therefore, we hope that here, in Bucharest, partners from Western Balkans will receive an invitation for membership and that Ukraine and Georgia will be offered a strengthened, increasingly closer relation with NATO.
We also hope Bosnia-Herzegovina, Montenegro and Serbia will also receive a positive signal towards closer ties with NATO.
But enlargement is not the only way to defend and spread the Allied values.
The Alliance needs to move to the next level in projecting the reinforced message and significance of its responsibility as the core defender of our values.
This is where your role as future leaders of the Atlantic community lies: you will be the ones to foster new solutions, new visions and an always renewed trust in the historic mission of NATO.
You represent a reassurance that NATO’s successful future is guaranteed.
As “Atlanticists” you embody the values that lie at the core of our Alliance: individual freedom, democracy and human rights. I trust you to carry these values forward.
I trust you can confirm President Franklin Roosevelt’s urge: “We cannot always build the future for our youth, but we can build our youth for the future. “
I believe in your capacity to assure the necessary leadership towards a successful future.
I also hope you will convey from Bucharest experience and your colleagues will learn by remaining active in the Young Atlanticist Network which will be launched here this week.
Dear friends,
The risks and threats to our values and security, even when they emerge from further and further beyond the borders of the Alliance, remain clear and present.
They take new shapes and change the nature of our fight. Therefore, the Alliance has to redefine its role. The key words are adaptation, flexibility and vision.
The greatest threat to our security and way of life is terrorism, especially the fundamentalism driven one.
NATO has troops on the ground in Afghanistan, fighting every day a fierce battle against Al-Qaeda and the insurgents. But this is mainly a battle of “hearts and minds”.
Fundamentalism and terrorism feed on poverty, lack of human rights, of rule of law and of democracy.
Armed force can only ensure a secure framework for the civil partners to act, for the businesses to develop – for a free society to emerge.
This is why the key to our future success lies in solid and efficient partnerships.
Partnerships with other international organisations, like the EU and the UN.
Partnerships with countries aspiring to be members of our Alliance, with like-minded nations across the globe.
Partnerships between the military and the civilian sides.
NATO is, first of all, about freedom, democracy and prosperity. Let’s never forget that!
The world of today is also challenged by the lack of sufficient energy sources and by climate change. Securing energy sources and a clean and safe environment for the future generations are among the main challenges that you, as future leaders, will face.
Energy security liberates us from tensions and conflicts and allows us to foster an environment of cooperative prosperity and development.
The NATO you will lead has to take an active role in tackling these crucial challenges for our security and our values.
Dear friends,
Many in the new generation are very fortunate to have grown up only in this world of great opportunity. They have not known a history of struggle. But we must never forget our history.
We can never forget where we came from.
It only makes us stronger. It only makes us more reliable. It only reinforces the importance of the values we share in this great Alliance.
Speaking of the lessons of history let me share with you my belief that we cannot but overemphasize the tremendous value of democracy for our Alliance’s mission in responding to today’s challenges.
Democracy is like rock and roll.
It is always better when democratic voices are loud.
It seems to me that if promoting democracy tends to become just another public diplomacy program, the risk is to transform democratic activism into a timid and simply discreet diplomatic message.
Supporting democracy as a universal value is a keystone of NATO’s presence and action in today’s world.
You are part of a generation that, everywhere in this world, is prepared to speak up in upholding this most precious asset.
I am a strong believer in your dedication to keeping it an „all-time hit” – if I may use a rock and roll expression.
We count on you, as future leaders, to continue engaging the challenges facing the Atlantic community.
You have a valuable ground. Build on it!
Take our dreams as high as possible! The future is yours!
Thank you.Distinguished guests,
Dear participants,
It is a real pleasure and a personal honour to welcome you to this major public diplomacy event, held in conjunction with the NATO Summit.
I would particularly like to extend a warm welcome to General Joseph Ralston, former Supreme Allied Commander Europe and to Ambassador Robert Hunter, two of the most influential people that contributed to NATO’s transformation and to Romania’s accession to the Alliance.
We are also honoured to have here, with us, the Romanian Prime Minister, Călin Popescu Tăriceanu who kindly agreed to take part in the opening session, Mr. Frederick Kempe, well-known to all of you as the President of the Atlantic Council of the United States and Mr. Alex Şerban, its Romanian counterpart, the head of the Euro-Atlantic Council in Romania.
I am pleased to see here so many young future leaders, ready to engage in dialogue and partnership with current decision-makers on challenges and opportunities shaping the security of the Euro-Atlantic area today.
The event represents a comprehensive inter-agency effort, both in terms of programmatic and logistical support. I would like to take this opportunity and express my gratitude for the organisers’ endeavours to provide a stimulating environment for debates. I would also like to thank the guest speakers and all the participants for joining the Young Atlanticist Summit and bringing added value to its success.
Already a renowned tradition, the presence of so many young leaders today, alongside outstanding NATO and national decision-makers constitutes an opportunity for developing cooperation on current world challenges and for bringing forward new lines of partnership for action.
The Euro-Atlantic community needs the energy and commitment of young leaders. It also needs the contribution of the experienced ones. The interest we take in engaging them in constructive debates is based on the principle of an intergenerational dialogue. It is a valuable approach which combines the experience of the past with the energy for the future.
This approach is underpinned by a complex range of interactive tools aimed at creating a dynamic and challenging framework for the reunion. I would particularly mention the NAC simulation, the videoconference with Afghan youth and the launch of a new initiative – The Young Atlanticist Network that can form the basis for a long-term partnership between young leaders across the Euro-Atlantic area.
I am confident that all participants will benefit from the debates and will capitalize on this experience in their future activity.
Echoing NATO Secretary General’s words “Without bridges, men would be islands”, I believe that the dialogue and cooperation between generations that you are building up, these days and for years to come, will stand as a solid pillar of the transatlantic bridge to partnership, peace and security.
Thank you for your attention! I will now pass the floor to our distinguished guest, Prime Minister Călin Popescu Tăriceanu, for his keynote address.
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