BRUSSELS, Belgium The 16 NATO allies eased East-West tensionanother notch Friday as they approved a U.S. proposal to let unarmedWarsaw Pact aircraft fly over their territory in search of suspiciousmilitary activity.
The "open skies" idea originated with President Dwight D.Eisenhower more than 30 years ago, at the height of the Cold War, andwas revised by President Bush last spring to include surveillance oflaboratories.
It will be discussed at a NATO-Warsaw Pact meeting in Februaryin Ottawa, Canada, that also could produce new proposals for troopreductions in Europe.
At the end of a two-day meeting, NATO foreign ministers alsoagreed to consider proposals by U.S. Secretary of State James A.Baker III that the alliance's political role be expanded as thethreat of military confrontation with the Soviet Union recedes.
Manfred Woerner, secretary-general of the North Atlantic TreatyOrganization, said he was confident of eventual agreement on settingup NATO panels to verify troop reductions in Europe, and possibly arole in mediating regional conflicts.
The ministers welcomed an unprecedented visit to allianceheadquarters by Soviet Foreign Minister Eduard A. Shevardnadze for ameeting with Woerner next Tuesday.
Douglas Hurd, the British foreign secretary, described the visitas "a symbol of what's been happening" in East-West relations.
A statement concluding the annual winter meeting of the NATOministers welcomed political and economic reforms under way inEastern Europe and urged that "the progress achieved must beconsolidated."
However, the ministers included a caution about Soviet militarymight: "We cannot ignore the military realities that our alliancecontinues to face and that lie at the heart of Europe's securityproblems."
On "open skies," the ministers said the concept "has a veryspecial value."
"The willingness of a country to be overflown is, in itself, ahighly significant political act in that it demonstrates itsavailability to openness," the statement said.
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