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| Updated: 03-Feb-2000 | NATO Press Releases |
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Press Release (2000)006 3 Feb. 2000 |
10th VCC Seminar with Cooperation Partners on Implementation of Conventional Arms Control Agreements From 2nd to 4th February, at NATO Headquarters, NATO's Verification Co-ordinating Committee (VCC) will host its 10th Seminar on cooperation in the verification and implementation of conventional arms control agreements, focussing on the Adapted Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe (CFE Treaty) and the Vienna Document 99. In addition to the nineteen NATO member nations, representatives from the Ministries of Foreign Affairs and Defence and heads of national verification organisations from Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Bulgaria, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Moldova, Romania, the Russian Federation, Slovakia and Ukraine will participate. The Seminar is scheduled to be opened by the Assistant Secretary General for Political Affairs, Ambassador Klaus-Peter Klaiber, who will provide the participants with an overview on NATO's current agenda and the role of arms control as we proceed into the next millennium. Guest speakers include Ambassadors Eide from Norway and Ladsous from France. During the Seminar, participants will review a variety of implementation-related matters preparing for the future entry into force of the adapted CFE-Treaty. They will also discuss improving and modifying the current tools and procedures to meet the new challenges and requirements of the Adapted Treaty. Plenary discussions will address individual aspects of the new notification and verification regimes and the organisation of the current programme of cooperation. Additionally, the Seminar will include an overview of the new accession provisions of the Adapted Treaty. The 10th Seminar is the latest in a series of highly successful joint seminars and workshops in which all 30 CFE Participating States attend. In the course of the Seminar, participants will also assess the results of the Programme of Enhanced Cooperation initiated by NATO in January 1993. This programme is continued under the auspices of EAPC and is designed to enhance cooperative approaches to implementing conventional arms control agreements. It includes four areas of special relevance to the CFE Treaty: joint inspections of declared sites; joint inspection of reductions; joint training courses; and sharing of information stored in NATO's conventional arms control data base, VERITY. This year's seminar is the first meeting of the CFE implementation community since the signing of the Agreement adapting the CFE Treaty in Istanbul on 19 November 1999. It will 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 other regional Agreements and related questions and hold a session in EAPC format on the new accession clauses for new members to the CFE Treaty. Journalists wishing further information on this Seminar may contact Mr. Michael Miggins, tel.: 00-32-2-707.5806 or fax: 00-32-2-707.4140. |
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