For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
June 28, 2004
Fact Sheet: Partnership for Peace and the Euro-Atlantic Partnership Council
Partnership for Peace. Celebrating its 10th anniversary this year,
NATO's Partnership for Peace (PfP) program is one of NATO's most
successful initiatives and has become a key component of NATO's
response to the challenges of the 21st Century. PfP has strengthened
new democracies in Europe, strengthened peace and stability in the
Euro-Atlantic area, and contributed to closer integration and
cooperation across Europe and Eurasia.
In the ten years since PfP's inception:
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Ten Central and Eastern European countries have become NATO
members;
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NATO Members and Partners have conducted hundreds of exercises,
involving tens of thousands of forces, to improve their ability to
conduct peacekeeping, search and rescue, and other operations together,
and to respond to disasters and other civil emergencies;
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Several of NATO's PfP Partners are contributing, or have made past
contributions, to the NATO-led operations in the Balkans (SFOR and
KFOR) and Afghanistan (ISAF). Many are also participating in Operation
Enduring Freedom, in Afghanistan, and the Multinational Force in Iraq.
Euro-Atlantic Partnership Council (EAPC). The EAPC was created in
1997 as a political forum involving NATO and its Partners to complement
the Partnership for Peace. It replaced the North Atlantic Cooperation
Council, created in 1991. The EAPC today includes the 26 NATO Allies
and 20 Partnership from Europe and Eurasia.
Focus on Central Asia. At today's NATO Summit meeting, Allied
leaders agreed to strengthen the focus within the Partnership for Peace
on relationships with the states of the Caucasus and Central Asia,
including by assigning liaison officers in each region to foster closer
cooperation between those countries and NATO. NATO will also renew its
focus on PfP's original goals of encouraging democratic control of
military forces, transparency in defense planning and budgeting, and
building capabilities and readiness to contribute to NATO operations.
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