An American C-17 aircraft visits the NATO air base at Papa, Hungary. Twelve of the aircraft will be part of a NATO fleet at Papa.

07 October 2008

(Pentagon’s Gates next going to Hungary to discuss Russia, Afghanistan)

Washington — The promotion of regional cooperation will lead the agenda in talks at the October 7-9 Southeast European Defense Ministerial.

The annual meeting, hosted by Macedonia this year along the shores of Lake Ohrid, will include representatives from Albania, Bulgaria, Turkey, Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Ukraine, Georgia, Moldova, the United States, Montenegro and Serbia.

Macedonia is eager to join the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, but its efforts have been hampered by a dispute with NATO member Greece about its official name — whether it should be the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia or the Republic of Macedonia.  Negotiations have been ongoing for months in an effort to resolve the dispute before the December 2-3 NATO foreign ministers meeting, where Macedonia’s request to join will be considered.

U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates will meet with his Ukrainian counterpart while in Macedonia.  After consultations in Macedonia, Gates will travel to Budapest, Hungary, for an informal meeting of defense ministers October 9-10.

That meeting is expected to be dominated by relations with Russia, Georgia’s bid for NATO membership, Afghanistan, the NATO Summit meeting in April 2009 and the problem of piracy off the coast of Somalia.

Gates will participate in the NATO-Georgia Commission meeting, the first since it was established in September.

Normally, Budapest would also have been a venue for a NATO-Russia Council meeting, but that was postponed after Russia invaded Georgia on August 8.

During his first stop in Europe in Pristina, Kosovo, October 7, Gates praised the country’s leadership for their progress in establishing a new nation.

“I’m pleased to be here to congratulate your leaders in person and to re-emphasize our commitment to all of the citizens of Kosovo,” Gates said.  He is the first U.S. cabinet officer to visit Kosovo since it declared its independence from Serbia in February.

AIRCRAFT FOR A VARIETY OF MISSIONS

Another subject in Budapest will be the progress under way to establish the NATO Airlift Management Organization, or NAMO as it is known, with a fleet of 12 C-17 aircraft based at the Papa Air Base in Hungary.

NAMO is supported by Bulgaria, Estonia, Hungary, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Romania, Slovenia and the United States — all NATO members — as well as non-members Sweden and Finland.

The fleet, initially under the command of a U.S. officer and a deputy commander from Sweden, will stand ready to conduct missions for NATO as well as the European Union or the United Nations as needed.

NATO spokesman James Appathurai said the fleet will be a big step forward in addressing the alliance’s shortfall in air-transport capabilities.  He told reporters in Belgium on October 1 that the fleet “is a model for pooling resources [and] sharing costs to develop a collective capability beyond the reach of, or not practical for, many nations individually.” Participation by Sweden and Finland, he said, is a “welcome example of NATO partner cooperation.”

Another subject for the NATO meeting will be continuing discussions about the possible deployment of airborne warning and control system (AWACS) aircraft to support the Afghanistan mission.  Appathurai said the AWACS are favored because they will give air traffic controllers a more comprehensive picture of Afghan air space.