Bill Clinton: “I think I'll be in a position to tell them, number one, the purpose of the Partnership For Peace is to open the…”

“I think I'll be in a position to tell them, number one, the purpose of the Partnership For Peace is to open the possibility of NATO's enlargement as well as to give all the former Warsaw Pact countries and other non-NATO nations in Europe the chance to cooperate with us militarily, that NATO is an alliance with mutual responsibilities as well as the security guarantee. And we are clearly serious about pursuing this, including ultimate membership, as evidenced by the fact that the Secretary General said in his closing remarks--I don't know what he said here in the press conference because I didn't hear it--he said in his closing remarks that General Joulwan would immediately contact the military leaders of these countries, including the Visegrad countries, to talk about how we could begin planning for mutual operations in training and exercise. So I think that they will clearly understand that this is a very serious proposal that opens the possibility of membership, not one that limits it. Bosnia”