Press
Release
(98)11
26 Jan. 1998
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8Th VCC seminar with Cooperation Partners
on implementation of conventional arms control agreements
- From 28th to 30th January, at NATO Headquarters, NATO's
Verification Coordinating Committee (VCC) will host its 8th Seminar
on cooperation in the verification and implementation of
conventional arms control agreements, mainly focussing on the Treaty
on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe (CFE Treaty) and the Vienna
Document 94. In addition to the sixteen NATO members' nations and
the three "invitees", namely the Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland,
representatives from Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Bulgaria, Georgia,
Kazakhstan, Moldova, Romania, the Russian Federation, Slovakia and
Ukraine will participate.
- The Seminar will be opened by the Deputy Secretary General,
Ambassador Sergio Balanzino. The Assistant Secretary General for
Political Affairs, Ambassador Klaus-Peter Klaiber, will provide the
participants with a detailed overview on NATO's current agenda.
Guest speakers include Ambassadors Vissing from Denmark and Tarasyuk
from Ukraine. During the Seminar, workshops will review a variety
of implementation-related-matters with a view to further improving
the tools and procedures and to meet the new challenges and their
future requirements. Plenary discussions will address individual
aspects of the current programme of cooperation in conventional arms
control implementation and verification and the way ahead
- The 8th Seminar with Partners is the latest in a series of
joint
seminars and workshops to assess the results of the Programme of
Enhanced Cooperation initiated by NATO in January 1993, now continued
under the auspices of the EAPC. This programme, designed to enhance
cooperative approaches to implementing conventional arms control
agreements, includes four areas of special relevance to the CFE
Treaty: joint inspections of declared sites; joint inspections of
reductions; joint training courses; and sharing of information
stored in NATO's verification data base VERITY.
- This year's seminar is the second during the ongoing residual
period of CFE Treaty
implementation and will take place during the current negotiation
process towards adaptation of the CFE Treaty and its Verification
Regime to the changed security environment, providing the
"verification community" with a timely opportunity to support the
negotiators with their practical views on how to further improve the
implementation process. It will also allow for a common analysis on
how to meet the challenges of future implementation and verification
tasks through agreed principles and an appropriate system of training
and education. The Seminar will also take note of the implementation
of the Dayton Peace Agreement and related questions.
- Journalists wishing further information on this Seminar may
contact Mr. Necil NEDIMOGLU, tel.: 00-32-2-707.5806 or fax:
00-32-2-707.4140.
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