From 28th to 30 th January, at NATO Headquarters, NATO's Verification Coordinating Committee (VCC) will host its 8th Seminar on cooperation in the verification and implementation of conventional arms control agreements, mainly focusing on the Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe (CFE Treaty) and the Vienna Document 94. In addition to the sixteen NATO members' nations and the three "invitees", namely the Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland, representatives from Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Bulgaria, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Moldova, Romania, the Russian Federation, Slovakia and Ukraine will participate.
The Seminar will be opened by the Deputy Secretary General, Ambassador Sergio Balanzino. The Assistant Secretary General for Political Affairs, Ambassador Klaus-Peter Klaiber, will provide the participants with a detailed overview on NATO's current agenda. Guest speakers include Ambassadors Vissing from Denmark and Tarasyuk from Ukraine. During the Seminar, workshops will review a variety of implementation-related-matters with a view to further improving the tools and procedures and to meet the new challenges and their future requirements. Plenary discussions will address individual aspects of the current programme of cooperation in conventional arms control implementation and verification and the way ahead.
The 8th Seminar with Partners is the latest in a series of joint seminars and workshops to assess the results of the Programme of Enhanced Cooperation initiated by NATO in January 1993, now continued under the auspices of the EAPC. This programme, designed to enhance cooperative approaches to implementing conventional arms control agreements, includes four areas of special relevance to the CFE Treatry: joint inspections of declared sites; joint inspections of reductions; joint training courses; and sharing of information stored in NATO's verification data base VERITY.
This year's seminar is the second during the ongoing residual period of CFE Treaty implementation and will take place during the current negotiation process towards adaptation of the CFE Treaty and its Verification Regime to the changed security environment, providing the "verification community" with a timely opportunity to support the negotiators with their practical views on how to further improve the implementation process. It will also 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 the implementation of the Dayton Peace Agreement and related questions.
PRESS RELEASE (98)11, 26 January 1998
No. 3. (13/02/98) - 2. Canada Ratifies NATO Enlargement
Prime Minister Jean Chretien today announced that Canada has ratifiedamendments to the North Atlantic Treaty which admit Poland, Hungary and theCzech Republic to full NATO membership in April 1999.
Canada is the first NATO member to take this step. The Instrument of Ratification was signed on Canada's behalf last night by Foreign Affairs Minister Lloyd Axworthy.
"Canada has supported the enlargement of the Alliance since the early 1990s", said the Prime Minister. "In being the first NATO member to ratify the amendments, we have shown the importance we attach to integrating the countries of central and eastern Europe into the security framework of the Trans-Atlantic community."
The Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland were invited to join the Alliance at the Madrid NATO Summit in July 1997. They and the 16 current members of the Alliance signed Protocols of Accession in December 1997 in Brussels. NATO leaders will return to the question of further enlargement at NATO's 50th anniversary Summit in Washington in April 1999.
Enlargement is only one aspect of NATO's adaptation. New partnerships and internal reform are part of NATO efforts to replace confrontation with cooperation.
The Instrument of Ratification will be deposited with the United States Government by the Canadian Ambassador in Washington.
Release 3 February 1998
No. 3. (13/02/98) - 3. Partners to Participate in Crisis Management Exercise 1998
For the first time Partners will actively participate in all aspectsof a NATO-wide Crisis Management Exercise (CMX).
This year's exercise (CMX 98) will be conducted from 12th to 18th February 1998. It is designed to practice crisis managementprocedures, measures and arrangements, including civil-military cooperation. The scenario of this command post exercise is hypothetical. It deals mainly with actions NATO might have to take to implement a UN-mandated peace support operation. Another part of the operation will exercise NATO involvement in responding to natural disasters. No actual troops will be deployed.
Participants in CMX 98 will include staffs in national capitals, at NATO Headquarters, and in both Major NATO Commands. In addition, about 20 Partnership for Peace (PfP) member countries have accepted NATO's invitation to fully participate in the exercise. Last year the Partner countries' contribution was limited to the civil emergency part of the exercise.
The decision to upgrade the participation of Partners comes in the framework of NATO's efforts to develop a more operational role for PfP and to provide for greater involvement of Partners in decision making and planning.
PRESS RELEASE (98) 13, 5 February 1998 3