In view of the need for the necessary preparation of our forces for these tasks, the progress achieved in the NACC framework in practical and technical cooperation in peacekeeping has proved to be of great value. In addition to cooperation in the NACC Ad Hoc Group on Cooperation in Peacekeeping a number of important bilateral and multilateral activities are in train such as the efforts now being made by a number of states to help Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania to establish a Baltic peacekeeping battalion. We welcomed the submission of a report by the United Nations Secretary General of 14th March to the General Assembly and the Security Council on "Improving the Capacity of the UN for Peacekeeping".

The possibility of a SACLANT exercise is also being considered. Additionally we welcome the offer by Poland to host an exercise in the Autumn of 1994. We also believe that initiatives such as proposals for a trilateral UK-German- Hungarian peacekeeping exercise and the planned trilateral Danish-German-Polish minesweeping and land exercises will usefully contribute to our joint effort to foster practical cooperation in the field of peacekeeping within the NACC/PfP framework.

The Partnership will contribute, among other things, to the development of cooperative military relations through joint planning, training and exercises in order to strengthen the ability to undertake missions in such fields as peacekeeping, search and rescue and humanitarian operations and others as may be agreed; and to create forces that are better able to operate together. In this regard particular importance is placed on the development and implementation of a defence planning and review process. We are fully committed to the Partnership and its successful implementation aimed at meeting the expectations of all participants.

Today, we discussed further contributions which we, as Defence Ministers, can make to this process. We shall continue to offer every possible support to efforts aimed at achieving a successful cooperation process and a mutually beneficial partnership tailored to the needs of the individual countries.

In this respect, we welcome Ukraine's initiation, in March, of the transfer to Russia of nuclear warheads from strategic systems as a significant step to fulfilment of Ukraine's commitments. We look forward to Ukraine's accession in the shortest possible time to the NPT as a non-nuclear weapon state. We confirm our intention to abide by existing non-proliferation norms and other regimes established with a view to preventing the risk of proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and of their delivery means. We are equally committed to increased transparency on conventional arms transfers.

We urge all States to provide all relevant data and information required for the UN Register of Conventional Arms. We reaffirmed our continuing support for the CFE Treaty as a cornerstone of European security and stability. We noted with satisfaction that several joint inspections have successfully been held and that recently the VERITY database, located at NATO Headquarters, has been opened to all CFE signatories.