Issued at the Meeting of the North Atlantic Cooperation Council Oslo 5 June 1992

Statement We, the Foreign Ministers and Representatives of the countries participating in the North Atlantic Cooperation Council have gathered in Oslo to consult on the major security issues, including regional conflicts as well as nuclear weapons issues, in the area stretching from Vancouver to Vladivostok and to deepen further our cooperation, building on our two previous meetings.We are pleased today to welcome Georgia as a member of this Council. We also welcome the membership of Albania in the North Atlantic Cooperation Council. It is only six months since our first meeting but already the North Atlantic Cooperation Council has proved its value as a forum for closer cooperation and consultation among our countries, contributing to our own and to international security. We note with satisfaction the ongoing implementation of our Work Plan for Dialogue, Partnership and Cooperation. Regular meetings of cooperation partners with the North Atlantic Council and its subordinate bodies on security and related issues - including political, military, economic, scientific and environmental subjects - and exchanges on concrete problems such as defence conversion and civil/military coordination of air traffic management, enable us to pursue effective action to achieve our shared goals. Practical cooperation on defence matters is expanding. However, this represents only a beginning and much remains to be done. The experience gained will enable us to develop further our cooperation and to respond to specific needs of our countries. Our Council contributes to the building of a new security architecture based on cooperative relations among states and a network of mutually reinforcing institutions. In support of the CSCE process and other institutions, we will work to increase stability and confidence and to promote transparency. Frameworks of regional cooperation will also be important in enhancing the CSCE process. We reaffirm the importance of efforts to create modern, competitive market economies with a view to overcoming grave economic disparities and thus enhancing our common security and stability. We are striving to reduce armed forces and armaments to minimum levels consistent with legitimate security requirements and to ensure democratic control of armed forces. The CSCE has a vital role to play in achieving a more peaceful and cooperative Europe. We are committed to working with all CSCE participating states to ensure that the Helsinki Summit opens a significant new chapter in the CSCE process.In this respect, we attach particular importance to enhancing the CSCE's operational and institutional capacity to contribute to conflict prevention, crisis management and the peaceful settlement of disputes, including peacekeeping, making use of the potential and support of CSCE countries and other organisations which are prepared to contribute. In this context, we have noted with interest yesterday's statement by Alliance Foreign Ministers in paragraph 11 regarding support for peacekeeping activities under the responsibility of the CSCE. Regional conflicts and ethnic tensions have not yet been eliminated from the CSCE area. These are of direct concern to us and must be resolved by peaceful means in accordance with international law and principles embodied in the Helsinki Final Act, the Charter of Paris and other CSCE documents. We deplore the continuing resort to force and resulting loss of life, as well as the suffering and extensive destruction in the territory of the former Yugoslavia, of which the tragedy in Bosnia-Herzegovina is yet another example. Although all parties to the conflict have contributed in their own way to the present state of affairs, the main responsibility falls on the authorities in the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (Serbia and Montenegro) including the JNA. We express our strong support for the efforts of the UN, the CSCE and the European Community to end the hostilities and to find a negotiated solution to the crisis. We trust that Resolution 757 approved by the United Nations Security Council will convey the determination of the international community to pursue such objectives. We are also profoundly disturbed by the escalation in the fighting, loss of life, suffering and extensive destruction in the crisis in Nagorno-Karabakh and beyond.We welcome the decision to convene the CSCE Conference in Minsk as well as all steps - such as the emergency preliminary meeting in Rome - designed to ensure its success, and the actions taken in the framework of the CSCE to bring about a peaceful solution to this conflict.We will contribute towards this goal and urge all parties concerned to do likewise.We support efforts within the CSCE to agree arrangements for the timely introduction of civilian observers to the region to contribute to the peace process and we note the readiness of members of our Council to participate in such a mission. We call on all parties involved in both cases immediately to establish effective ceasefires as fundamental contributions to the negotiation of peaceful solutions.We also call on all parties to facilitate the provision of urgently needed humanitarian assistance to the victims of both conflicts. We stress that any attempt through the use of force to acquire territory, change boundaries or achieve political ends is unacceptable and can only undermine efforts to achieve the lasting, negotiated and peaceful settlements which are essential. Military forces should be stationed on the territory of a foreign state only with the consent of that state.We recognize the importance of establishing soon, in the negotiations underway, a timetable for the withdrawal of foreign troops from the Baltic states. We are deeply concerned by the dangers of nuclear proliferation, including by diversion of nuclear materials, and we attach the greatest importance to the safety and security of nuclear weapons.In this context, we stress the vital role played by the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) and the safeguards system of the International Atomic Energy Agency in preventing the further spread of such weapons and of nuclear-weapons technology and expertise.We therefore reiterate our unequivocal support for the Treaty and undertake to do everything we can to guarantee its integrity and further its objectives.We urge all states which have not yet acceded to it to do so as non-nuclear weapon states without delay and we call upon all states parties fully to abide by their obligations. With a view to reducing nuclear arsenals, we call for speedy ratification and entry into force of the START Treaty and implementation of other commitments to cut back, transfer and eliminate nuclear forces. The consolidation and implementation of existing arms control, disarmament and confidence-building agreements, and the negotiation of new initiatives in the new CSCE Forum for Security Cooperation to be established within the CSCE, are fundamental to the cooperative security process.In support of these aims: we welcome agreement on the Final Document of the Extraordinary Conference which will provide the basis for the entry into force of the CFE Treaty, with all the new states within the CFE area of the former Soviet Union as full participants.We note with appreciation the contribution of the High Level Working Group to this successful result.Those of us concerned reaffirm our determination to bring into force the Treaty by the time of the Helsinki Summit Meeting of the CSCE on 9-10 July 1992 and stress the necessity of states parties concerned taking the steps necessary as soon as possible in order to meet this target date; we support the determination of the participants in the CFE IA negotiations to reach an agreement to limit the personnel strength of their conventional armed forces in time for the Helsinki Summit; we emphasize the importance of prompt and full implementation of the provisions of the Vienna 1992 Document on confidence and security building measures by all CSCE states; it will strengthen stability and promote transparency within the CSCE area; we look forward to the early entry into force of the Treaty on Open Skies and adherence to it by interested states which are participating in the CSCE but are not original signatories to the Treaty as provided for by Article XVII of the Treaty and called for in the CSCE Open Skies Declaration of 24 March 1992; we urge all states to exercise restraint and responsibility in the field of conventional arms transfers and call on all to submit full relevant data to the UN Register of Arms Transfers. The eradication of chemical weapons is a challenge for all nations.We urge the conclusion this year and early entry into force of a global, comprehensive and effectively verifiable ban on chemical weapons. Finland attended this meeting as an observer at its request. We look forward to the next meeting of the North Atlantic Cooperation Council in Brussels in December 1992. We express our deep appreciation for the gracious hospitality extended to us by the Kingdom of Norway.