SARAJEVO STABILITY PACT SUMMIT 29 – 30 July

OPENING STATEMENT BY PRESIDENT MARTTI AHTISAARI,

29 July 1999

We are gathered for the opening session of the Stability Pact Summit and I wish you all most warmly welcome. This two-day Summit is taking place in a very special city. The organisation of such a major event has been a huge challenge. I want to congratulate the host country for its outstanding efforts. We have come to Sarajevo at a historic moment. Europe is about to leave behind a century of war and destruction, but also one of hope and great opportunities. Europe as a region has been brought more and more closely together through political and economic integration. It is with hope and vision that our continent is heading into a new millennium.

The Stability Pact for South-Eastern Europe should become a turning point. It is no longer sufficient to respond to each crisis on an ad hoc basis. To ensure sustainable peace we must build on a comprehensive vision of longer-term democratic governance, economic growth and security co-operation.

The Stability Pact is an initiative which seeks to bring together not only the countries most affected by regional instability, but also all their partners at the highest political level. This forum for co-operation also brings together an extensive spectrum of international organisations and initiatives. It is now up to the countries of the region to make the most of the partnership and instruments that are being offered to them.

Tensions and crises have erupted throughout the region, causing refugee flows and instability, and devastating economies. These crises have cost South-Eastern Europe precious time and set it back in its aspiration to join the rest of Europe.

It is high time to make up for lost time. The successful management of transition throughout the region is a prerequisite for functional integration into broader European and international structures. The challenges of integration are extraordinary, but so are the potential rewards.

The ability of countries within the region to cooperate and establish good-neighbourly relations as well as to achieve reconciliation within and between themselves will be an important criterion for evaluating their prospects of full integration with the European Union. It is vitally important that the countries of the region contribute their different experiences and expertise to a joint process that will benefit all. Some of the countries around this table have already gone a long way towards developing democratic political processes, which are founded on the rule of law and full respect for human rights. They have successfully worked toward meeting the legal and economic preconditions for attracting trade and investment, and have engaged in confidence building with neighbouring states.

Your commitment and active participation will be crucial in the implementation of the Stability Pact. The countries of the region are taking centre stage at today's meeting, just as they will have to throughout the implementation of the Stability Pact.

I call upon you to focus on the concrete aims that you plan to set for yourselves individually and collectively:

What are the priority areas of co-operation and regional exchange in which you would seek to get involved?

In which of the existing trans-boundary initiatives are you already involved - in the areas of confidence building, combating organised crime and terrorism, media and communications, infrastructure development, customs co-operation, migration?

How can you cooperate on the return of refugees and displaced persons to their homes throughout the region?

What is required of your economies so that they can join free trade areas?

How are you working with your neighbours to promote confidence building and reconciliation?

It is my hope that this meeting will be devoted to constructive brainstorming about how to begin implementation the tasks of the three Working Tables in the Stability Pact: Democracy and Human Rights, Economic Reconstruction, Development and Co-operation, and Security Issues. The solutions for the region must be generated within the region. Sarajevo, where the tortured history of this century can be seen to have begun, can now help launch a new century of peace, prosperity and democracy.