Press Statement on Armaments Cooperation

Armaments cooperation plays an important part in our collective security. Ministers have therefore agreed to direct the Conference of National Armaments Directors (CNAD) to implement a new Armaments Cooperation Improvement Strategy. They have decided to communicate its main elements to the public.

Ministers have instructed the CNAD to address identified conventional deficiencies facing NATO with a view towards coordination of national and multilateral equipment programmes, in order to redress these deficiencies expeditiously and effectively, in accordance with established priorities.

Emphasizing their political will to collaborate, Ministers have agreed:

• that the challenge is to find improved ways of enhancing collaboration;
• that every effort should be made to harmonise requirements and to explore the prospects for meeting them collaboratively;
• that efforts to increase cooperation in research and technology, in particular to exploit emerging technologies, should be stepped-up in order to achieve a more cost-effective use of resources of the countries of the Alliance and facilitate the establishment of cooperative projects. A wider exchange of information is a key factor in these endeavours;
• that sustained moves to strengthen cooperation in the early pre-project stage would facilitate agreement on common armaments priorities leading to an effective resources strategy of countries of the Alliance;
• to stress the importance of effective and coordinated armaments planning of countries of the Alliance and, accordingly, to direct the CNAD to place particular emphasis on the identification of opportunities for greater rationalization;
• that the CNAD should study the management of collaborative projects, which becomes increasingly complex as the number of participating countries increases, and submit its recommendations to the Council;
• to encourage and support work aimed at improving industry-to-industry cooperation;
• to direct the CNAD to study the best means of assisting those countries with a less developed and/or small defence industrial base to obtain a more adequate share of industrial participation in defence research, development, production and maintenance, in order to enhance their long term economic strength.

The framework for progress has been laid out. Major improvements will require a long term sustained effort. The nations of the Alliance are committed to carrying out the key elements of the improvement strategy.