We, the Foreign Ministers and Representatives of the member countries of the North Atlantic Cooperation Council (NACC), have met today in Istanbul for our seventh meeting since the inauguration of our Council on 20 December 1991. We continued our consultations on regional conflicts and tensions affecting security in our areas. We received the implementation of the Partnership for Peace initiatives, launched by NATO Heads of State and Government at their meeting in Brussels on 10 January of this year, and our broadening cooperation. Through increasingly close cooperation and joint efforts we will be able to strengthen security and stability throughout our area.
Finland, Slovenia, and Sweden, having joined the Partnership for Peace, participated in the deliberations on PfP issues and attended the rest of the meeting as observers.
We are pleased by the progress made in the implementation of our NACC Work Plan for Dialogue, Partnership and Cooperation for 1994, which we agreed at our meeting last December. Our cooperation in many areas is already firmly established and has developed its own momentum. We will continue with the broad agenda of our NACC activities. Cooperation on political and security related issues will remain a key activity. We shall intensify our regular political consultations and continue our practical cooperation activities, using the mechanisms established in the framework of the NACC.
We welcome the establishment of the Partnership for Peace and fully support the principles on which it is founded. This important and far-reaching partnership initiatives signifies the extension of our cooperation in this Council, taking into account the interests and capacities of the individual partner countries.Twenty countries have already joined the Partnership for Peace. We look forward to others joining, including other CSCE states which are not members of the NACC and which are able and willing to contribute to this programme.
The objective of the Partnership is to enhance security and stability in the whole of Europe. The Partnership will transform the relations between NATO and participating states and adapt them further to the new conditions in Europe. Cooperation will include the necessary transparency and not be directed against any other country. Partnership for Peace is based on the commitment to democratic principles and human rights, to the preservation of democratic societies, their freedom from coercion and intimidation and the maintenance of the principles of international law. Central obligations of the Partnership for Peace already undertaken in the UN Charter, including respect for sovereignty and existing borders, settlement of disputes by peaceful means and refraining from the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any state.
Important practical steps for the implementation of Partnership for Peace have already been taken: a Political-Military Steering Committee has been set up and a separate Partnership Coordination Cell at Mons, Belgium, has been established. Partner representatives now have offices at NATO Headquarters in Brussels to facilitate liaison and closer cooperation. The first Individual Partnership Programmes should be agreed shortly.
We seek a robust programme of exercises, beginning this year. In this connection, we welcome the holding of the first joint peacekeeping field exercises this autumn in The Netherlands and in Poland. We also welcome a number of nationally-sponsored peacekeeping exercises planned for 1994, which we believe will contribute to our joint effort to foster practical cooperation in the field of peacekeeping within the NACC/PfP framework. Since joint practical planning, training and exercises in the field of peacekeeping operations will form an important part of Partnership for Peace activities, we decided on the merger of the NACC Ad Hoc Group with provision to maintain participation by all who have taken part in the work of the Ad Hoc Group.
We welcome the progress achieved in the NACC Ad Hoc Group on Cooperation in Peacekeeping towards improving the ability of participating states to cooperate effectively in support of peacekeeping operations, including their humanitarian aspects, under the authority of the UN Security Council or the responsibility of the CSCE. We have published today the third progress report submitted to us by the Group. Participation by representatives of the UN and CSCE has facilitated liaison and transparency with both.
The Partnership for Peace programme builds on the valuable cooperation underway in the NACC framework in the fields of peacekeeping and defence-related cooperation and military contacts. Partnership for Peace activities will have greater depth and be tailored to the needs of individual Partners, in particular on the basis of individual Partnership Programmes.
We take note of the adoption of a status of Association with WEU for the countries of Central Europe which have been partners in the Forum of Consultation. This initiative, for those who participate, is designed to contribute to security and stability in the whole of Europe, and as such is fully complementary to the cooperation within the framework of the Alliance, particularly the Partnership for Peace.
The CSCE remains essential in promoting security and human rights in our area. We consider important the role of the CSCE in support of new democracies. We support the full range of its activities. We welcome the decisions of the CSCE Council in Rome to make the role of the CSCE in conflict prevention and crisis management more operational. We reaffirm our commitment to further strengthening the role of the CSCE and its contribution to European security, including its early warning capabilities. We endorse the work in the CSCE Forum for Security Cooperation and are committed to seek rapid further progress, particularly with regard to the code of conduct, harmonisation, regional arms control, including in the Balkans, non-proliferation and the global exchange of military information. We will work for concrete results in all these areas by the time of the Budapest CSCE Review Conference and the CSCE Summit in December.
We welcome the progress made in the preparation of the Pact on Stability in Europe, and more particularly the success of the inaugural conference held in Paris on 26-27 May. We will continue to support this initiative, which aims to promote good neighbourly relations in Central and Eastern Europe, including questions related to frontiers and minorities, as well as regional cooperation and the strengthening of democratic institutions.
As at our previous meetings, we discussed the regional conflicts and regional security issues which undermine stability and security in our area and endanger the process of democratic transition in Europe. Our consultations contribute to fostering a better common understanding and reaffirming our commitment to reduce tensions and search for solutions. We are united in the conviction that only negotiated, peaceful settlements acceptable to the parties involved will produce lasting solutions to such conflicts.
While international efforts have helped to reduce the violence in some areas of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina fighting still continues. We urge the parties concerned to conclude and implement a comprehensive cessation of hostilities and to negotiate an early and durable settlement of the conflict, based on the framework agreed in previous negotiations and recently reaffirmed by the Geneva Ministerial meeting on 13 May. Only a peaceful settlement will command the support of the international community and offer the peoples of Bosnia-Herzegovina the prospect of a secure future. We welcome all latest efforts by the international community, including those of the Contact Group, to bring about such settlement. We welcome progress in establishing a federation between the Bosniacs and the Bosnian Croats in the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina as a step towards a global settlement. We call on the parties and all other concerned to comply fully with all relevant UNSC resolutions. We recognise the economic burdens being borne by states, particularly those in the region, in implementing those resolutions. We call on all parties to the conflict to respect safe areas established in accordance with Security Council Resolutions 824 and 836 , and to refrain from interference with humanitarian relief operations or actions against UNPROFOR or other forces engaged in implementing UNSC resolutions. We note NATO's decisions in response to requests from UN Secretary General, to provide its air power in support of the relevant UN Security Council resolutions.
We affirm our support of the International Conference on Former Yugoslavia-sponsored mediation with respect to the Krajina. We remain deeply concerned about tensions and potential for conflict in Vojvodina, Sandjak, Kosovo, as well as in parts of the Republic of Croatia, and other areas. We call for full respect for human and democratic rights. We support UN efforts in this regard and call for the return of CSCE long-term missions.
We remain convinced that the plan for a CSCE Conference on Nagorno-Karabakh in Minsk offers the appropriate means to find a just and lasting solution to that conflict, the continuation of which remains a source of deep concern. We reaffirm that the conflict cannot be resolved by military means but only through a negotiated settlement, based on respect for CSCE principles and the UN Charter, and the establishment of a good neighbourly relations between Armenia and Azerbaijan and all countries in the region. We strongly support the work of the CSCE Minsk Group. We welcome all mediation efforts undertaken in cooperation with the CSCE to help achieve these ends. We agree that implementation of an effective ceasefire and constructive negotiations in a spirit of compromise are essential to create the conditions necessary for a step by step peace process leading to a permanent solution, including the de-escalation of the conflict and the withdrawal of forces from areas occupied by force and the return of displaced persons to their homes in accordance with the relevant UN Security Council resolutions. We support the deployment of CSCE monitors to facilitate a permanent settlement of this enduring conflict.
We welcome the progress towards a lasting solution to the conflict in Abkhazia, Georgia, that has been achieved in negotiations between the parties concerned. We support the efforts of the UN and the CSCE to bring about a permanent settlement. We take note of the measures, undertaken in the CIS framework in order to assist in maintaining an effective ceasefire, creating conditions for full scale and secure return of refugees and displaced civilians to their homes. We reiterate our support for territorial integrity and sovereignty of the Republic of Georgia.
We also call upon the conflicting parties to work towards a peaceful solution of the problems in Tajikistan and to abandon armed confrontation at the Tajik-Afghan border. We welcome the process of inter-Tajik negotiations and support the efforts of the UN and CSCE in furthering the dialogue towards reaching a lasting political settlement of the conflict, which will restore peace in Tajikistan and make it possible for displaced persons to return to places of their residence, thereby making it possible for the country to focus upon her democratic development and economic progress in the interests of all her citizens. We welcome the first round of UN-sponsored peace talks that took place in Moscow in April, and we urge further progress in the next round scheduled for June.
We welcome the recent agreement to complete the withdrawal of foreign troops from Latvia by 31 August 1994. We expect the early conclusion of the on-going bilateral negotiations to achieve an agreement on the withdrawal of the foreign troops remaining in Estonia. The orderly and expeditions completion of the withdrawal from Latvia and Estonia will be positive contribution to regional and European security. It will help lay a basis for constructive neighbourly relations in the region, which are in the interest not only of the countries in the Baltic Region but of us all. We urge the parties to resolve the remaining issues.
We are pleased that progress has been made towards a permanent peaceful solution of the dispute regarding the Transdniestria area of Moldova. We welcome the recent signature of a declaration on the principles of a settlement by the parties concerned, which should serve as an important step towards national reconciliation within the context of respect for the territorial integrity of Moldova. We support the expeditious conclusion of negotiation between the parties concerned to lead to an early, complete and orderly withdrawal of the 14th Russian Army from Moldova without linkage to other issues. We support the efforts of the CSCE Mission in Moldova and the facilitation of its work.
We express great concern at the recent developments around the Autonomous Republic of Crimea within Ukraine, which may lead to further escalation of tension in the region, and reiterate that the solution of this problem should be found by all parties concerned, fully respecting the Constitution and the territorial integrity of Ukraine, and by peaceful means only, in accordance with the Charter of the United Nations and the [principles of the CSCE Final Act.
We reaffirm the importance of full implementation of and compliance with all existing arms control and disarmament agreements. This means:
continuing support for the CFE Treaty as a cornerstone of European security and stability;
the indefinite and unconditional extension of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT), and work towards and enhanced verification regime;
the early entry into force of the Convention on Chemical Weapons, and its early ratification by those states that have not yet done so;
the full implementation of the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention and new measures to strengthen it;
the early entry into force of the Treaty on Open Skies;
increased transparency on conventional arms transfers and the full provision of relevant data by all states to the UN Register of Conventional Arms;
the early discussion of a universal and effectively verifiable Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty.
In the nuclear field, we welcome the Trilateral Statement signed by President Clinton, Kravchuk and Yeltsin in Moscow on 14 January, on the transfer of all nuclear warheads in Ukraine to Russia for dismantlement and Russian compensation to Ukraine for the value of highly-enriched uranium in those weapons. We welcome Ukraine's initiation in March of the transfer to Russia of nuclear warheads from strategic systems as a significant step towards fulfilment of Ukraine's commitments under the Lisbon Protocol and the Trilateral Statement.
We look forward to Ukraine's accession to the NPT as a non-nuclear weapon state at the earliest opportunity and welcome the readiness of the three co-depositary states of the NPT to provide the security assurance to Ukraine specified in the Trilateral Statement once Ukraine becomes a non-nuclear weapon state party to the NPT.
We further welcome the Memorandum of Understanding signed on 13 May 1994 between the United States and Ukraine on missile non-proliferation in accordance with the Missile Technology Control Regime guidelines on export controls.
We welcome the Republic of Kazakhstan's accession to the NPT as a non-nuclear weapon state and highly appreciate the positive role of Kazakhstan in the process of dismantling the nuclear weapons of the former Soviet Union in accordance with the terms of the Lisbon Protocol.
We strongly urge the Government of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea to affirm unequivocally its commitment to the NPT and to comply with its International Atomic Energy Agency safeguards Agreement.
We look forward to the next meeting of the North Atlantic Cooperation Council in Brussels in December 1994.
We extend our deep appreciation for the gracious hospitality to us by the Government of Turkey.
