Public address by State Secretary, Mr. Øystein Singsaas at the inauguration of the Regional Air Surveillance Co-ordination Centre (RASCC) in Karmélava, 6 June 2000

Ladies and Gentlemen,

When Norway first was called on to take the responsibility of co-ordinating the BALTNET project, I must admit that we hesitated. Would it be possible to move the parties to a common effort? Would it be possible to gather sufficient political support? What about the financial issue? Initially we had more questions than answers. In April 1997, following consultations with various nations, Norway finally agreed to take the lead in order to establish a Baltic Air Surveillance Centre for Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.

All those who made this project possible are proud today. Those who believed in it from the beginning, those who carried out the work, those who did not give up even if there where challenges to cope with all through the project; all made a great effort for Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania and for the Baltic region.

This has been an important achievement in several ways. First of all, the Regional Air Surveillance Co-ordination Centre and the national nodes are important installations for maintaining national sovereignty as well as for regional and national security. Secondly, this is a model project as to how regional co-operation should work and thirdly, the project could also be seen as a symbol of the new international situation.

Ten years ago, during the spring of 1990 Lithuania, Estonia and Latvia bravely proclaimed their countries’ independence. Since then, the three nations have worked steadily against the risks of destabilisation in the region without denying their wish to join the European family. When the BALTNET project was launched in 1997 it was still a taboo to mention a possible NATO membership. Nevertheless, BALTNET managed to maintain the planned schedule due to the fruitful co-operation with NATO. The NATO Link 1 Protocol was released in the beginning of 1999. It makes it possible to exchange air pictures between the national nodes and the RASCC. This would have been inconceivable only a few years ago.

Now we all know that the Baltic countries might become members of the Alliance in the future. As three of the Alliance’s aspiring countries, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania take an active part both in the PARP and in the MAP processes. The accomplishment of the RASCC is a crucial step towards their fulfilment of the force goals on the way to interoperability with NATO.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank all the participants in this project. Without the personal dedication and strong support from the members of the Technical Subgroup as well as from the ministers and the staff in the ministries and the armed forces, this would not have been such a successful mission. On behalf of my minister, Mr Godal, I have the pleasure to congratulate the governments of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, and wish you the very best of luck for the future!

Thank you.