Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

I want to welcome Secretary-General Solana to the Permanent Council and in the spirit of promoting discussion and exchange here, I would like to take the opportunity to ask Mr. Solana for his views on a number of priority issues for the Permanent Council.

Mr. Solana, the United States welcomes EU efforts to enhance its ability to address civilian crisis management.  The targets you have established and the work already underway, which you have laid out for us today, is indeed impressive. We believe the OSCE also needs to be prepared to respond more rapidly and effectively to crises and we consider implementation of the REACT program and the establishment of the Operations Center central in that regard.

For our part, the United States has identified an American firm that is already recruiting United States experts that meet OSCE/REACT program requirements in a variety of fields such as human rights, elections and administration.  In addition, the United States is seeking to enhance its capacities to respond to crisis situations involving international civilian police and rule of law issues.  In implementing a directive issued by President Clinton, we will identify and train 2,000 experienced American police officers who can rapidly deploy to address policing and rule of law requirements in a variety of areas, including monitoring, training, advising, and actual law enforcement.  The U.S. contribution to REACT will benefit from the implementation of this program.

In view of the Secretariat's plans to implement REACT starting in March, I am wondering if you could be any more specific with regard to what member states will be doing to implement REACT on a national level starting this spring?

I would also like to pose some additional questions that go a bit beyond your remarks here.  One of the areas where the OSCE and the EU have cooperated extensively is in Southeastern Europe.  It is our strong hope that this cooperation will continue as we collectively work to enhance regional stability, tolerance, refugee returns, and economic development in that region.  Could you tell us what steps you are taking to foster OSCE/EU cooperation in the region and could you identify for us any specific issues where cooperation should be enhanced and how we here in Vienna can help to facilitate this cooperation?

Finally, Mr. Chairman, the United States believes strongly that the commitments we undertake with one another are important in advancing shared objectives.  We take those commitments seriously and we expect them to be complied with.  A little over a year ago at the Istanbul Summit, we made a number of commitments to one another, including those contained in the Charter for European Security, the Adapted CFE Treaty, the Vienna Document 1999, and others.  We would be interested in your assessment, Mr. Solana, of the progress made since Istanbul and of what remains to be done to ensure that the commitments made there are fully implemented and implemented on schedule.

Thank you.