EMBASSY EVENTS 2009
Vice President Biden Meets with Prime Minister Tusk at Munich Conference on NATO, European Security
7 February 2009
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| VP Biden and PM Tusk [photo: www.kprm.gov.pl] |
Vice President Biden Meets with Prime Minister Tusk at Munich Conference on NATO, European Security
7 February 2009
Vice President Biden met one-on-one with Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk in Munich, where Biden is representing the United States at the 45th annual Munich Conference on Security Policy, which will examine the future of NATO and the status of European security plans. This was the first meeting at a senior level between the Polish government and the Obama Administration, coming less than three weeks after Biden and President Obama took the Oath of Office. In his speech to the conference and in bilateral meetings with foreign leaders, Vice President Biden is discussing the need for strong partnerships to meet our common challenges. Speaking to the conference, the Vice President rejected the creation of Spheres of Influence and stated "We will continue to develop missile defenses to counter a growing Iranian capability, provided the technology is proven to work and cost effective," adding "We will do so in consultation with our NATO allies and Russia."Biden, making his first trip abroad since the inauguration, is accompanied by National Security Adviser James Jones, the White House announced February 6. Also attending for the United States are U.S. Special Envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan Richard Holbrooke, U.S. Central Command commander Gen. David Petraeus, and U.S. Senators John Kerry, John McCain, and Joseph Lieberman. For more on the conference and U.S. participation, click here.
The Vice President addressed leaders at 12:20 local time. He will urge cooperation among our allies to confront the security and economic issues of a post-Cold War and post-9/11 world. In addition to Prime Minister Tusk, Biden is also engaging in bilateral meetings with German Chancellor Angela Merkel; Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko; French President Nicholas Sarkozy; British Foreign Secretary David Miliband; NATO Secretary General Jakob Gijsbert de Hoop Scheffer; German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier; Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili, and Russian Deputy Prime Minister Ivanov. On Saturday evening, he will host a reception for the U.S. Congressional Delegation and German Bundestag members, and attend a dinner hosted by the Minister President of Bavaria Horst Seehofer.
The Munich Conference, traditionally held at the Hotel Bayerischer in Munich, Germany, is an annual gathering of government officials, foreign and defense policy experts and journalists to discuss trans-Atlantic security issues. In addition to NATO enlargement and the European security architecture, conference organizers said other issues will include nonproliferation and nuclear weapons security, and regional crises like those in Afghanistan, the Middle East, the Central Caucasus and the Balkans.
NATO undertook the role of providing stabilization and reconstruction in Afghanistan following a U.S.-led effort to rid the country of the authoritarian Taliban regime and the transnational terrorist group al-Qaida following the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the United States. The NATO-led International Security Assistance Force has been working to stabilize and rebuild the country by training the Afghan army, police and judiciary; supporting the government in counter-narcotics efforts; developing a market infrastructure; and suppressing the Taliban.
Ambassador Wolfgang Ischinger of Germany, the new chairman of the conference, said about 300 officials are anticipated at the two-day gathering, which begins February 6. One of the core issues facing participants, he said, is the relationship between Western Europe and Russia in the aftermath of the conflict between Russia and Georgia in August 2008. “A new understanding between the West and Russia regarding fundamental issues of European and global security, including future NATO accessions, is necessary and overdue,” Ischinger said at a December press briefing. “Instead we must find a way to work together to deal with current and future crises.”
The 2009 NATO Summit, which marks the 60th anniversary of the North Atlantic alliance, is being held in Strasbourg-Kehl, on the French-German border, on April 3 and 4. Ischinger, who is a former German ambassador to Britain and to the United States, said the list of attendees at the Munich Conference is still being developed, but German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Nicolas Sarkozy have already announced plans to participate. U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates and U.S. Senator John McCain, the ranking Republican member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, are also participating. “In addition to the traditional security policy issues, more attention will be paid to new global challenges such as energy and climate policy or cyber-crime, often referred to as 'soft security' issues,” conference organizers said.
The Munich Conference, often referred to as the Wehrkunde Conference, was founded in 1962 by German publisher Ewald-Heinrich von Kleist-Schmenzin.
