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Milestones From Partnership to Membership

Latvia's co-operation with NATO began on 20 December 1991, when it became a member state of the North Atlantic Co-operation Council. The aim of the Council was to promote mutual understanding and confidence between former adversaries - NATO and the states of the Warsaw Pact. This forum gave Latvia the opportunity to urge NATO countries to support the withdrawal of foreign troops from Latvia, as was reflected in NACC communiqués of 1992-3. It soon became clear that in fact several partner countries no longer felt a lack of trust towards NATO.

In 1993, when the issue of NATO enlargement came to the fore for the first time, awareness grew that the irreversibility of Latvia's independence could only be ensured through guarantees afforded by the Washington Treaty of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. For example, Latvia's Minister of Foreign Affairs Georgs Andrejevs, in his address to the Meeting of the Chairmen of the Foreign Policy Committees of the EU Member States in Copenhagen on 4 November 1993, stressed that "NATO could be one of the guarantees of Latvia's security, and Latvia has expressed the wish to become a member of NATO several times, though the decision on this rests with the NATO member states (...)".

Being determined to maximally utilise every opportunity for closer co-operation with NATO, Latvia was one of the first Partner Countries to sign up to the NATO-initiated "Partnership for Peace" programme at the beginning of 1994, which was aimed at cementing the already well-functioning political dialogue with a programme of practical military co-operation. For Latvia, this programme offered the best opportunity to prepare for membership of the Alliance, as noted in Latvia's Partnership for Peace Presentation Document submitted in July 1994, and in the Individual Partnership Programme approved in February 1995.

In Latvia's Foreign Policy Concept, adopted by the Saeima on 7 April 1995, integration into NATO was set as one of Latvia's main foreign policy priorities. In the appendix to the document "Latvia's Foreign Policy Framework to 2005" it was stated that "Latvia will use every opportunity to become a full-fledged NATO member state. Latvia supports such an enlargement of NATO as will at every stage increase and strengthen both Latvian and European security (...)".

In response to the consistent desire of several partner countries to join NATO, the Alliance commissioned a Study on NATO Enlargement, the findings of which were presented to the 26 partner countries by NATO Secretary General Willy Klaas on 28 September 1995. The study presented NATO's perspective on a possible future enlargement and potential new member states, which in effect signalled the beginning of the enlargement process. On 5 December 1995 NATO Foreign Ministers decided that a decision on new NATO member states needed to be taken by 1997.

During the meeting of NATO leaders in Madrid, Spain, on 8 July 1997, three candidate countries were invited to become NATO member states. The Baltic States had also hoped for a favourable decision, however NATO decided instead on a stepwise enlargement process, announcing along with the invitation extended to Poland, the Czech Republic and Hungary an Open Door Policy, and agreeing to review the process at their next meeting in 1999. The Baltic States managed to achieve the inclusion of an indirect reference to themselves as NATO candidates in the Madrid Summit Declaration.

At the meeting of NATO Heads of State and Government in Washington on 23-25 April 1999, the Czech Republic, Poland and Hungary were officially admitted to NATO. Importantly, NATO officials acknowledged and recognized the desire of the Baltic States to join the Alliance at the meeting. Yet another important decision taken by the NATO leaders was the proposal for each candidate country to prepare a "NATO Membership Action Plan", which would reflect in detail the preparation process and groundwork to be undertaken for NATO membership. The annual âÀœNATO Membership Action Plan" is based on the requirements for NATO membership to be fulfilled by candidate countries as set out in the Washington Treaty (1949) and the MAP (Membership Action Plan) Washington Document (1999). The Action Plan allows candidate countries to demonstrate how these requirements are met, and stipulates further tasks set by the candidate countries themselves so that they conform to NATO standards. The Annual Plan includes the achievements of the previous year, planned activities for the coming year, and outlines perspectives for medium- and long-term planning.

As of 2003 Latvia had in total developed four Action Plans, the last of which was approved by the Cabinet of Ministers on 10 September 2002. The Action Plan became a practical document that assisted Latvia and the other Baltic States to become leaders in the NATO enlargement process, as in repeated consultations with NATO member states the plans prepared by the Baltic States were rated as high-quality, realistic and feasible.

The Latvian NATO Membership Action Plan is traditionally composed of six chapters:

1. political and economic issues;
2. defence and military issues;
3. resource issues;
4. information security issues;
5. legal questions associated with NATO membership and
6. implementation of the NATO Membership Action Plan.

According to the opinions of the NATO member states themselves, reforms to the defence system currently underway have created a stable and reliable foundation on which Latvia can build its capabilities to fulfil the obligations of NATO membership.