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PRESS RELEASE (93)26                           16 MARCH 1993


FIRST JOINT MULTINATIONAL INSPECTION UNDER THE CFE TREATY

Today Italy will carry on the first CFE inspection led by
a NATO member state with the participation of Co-operation
Partners from Central and East Europe. Inspectors from
Azerbaijan, Hungary and Poland will take part in the multi-
national team that will verify a declared site in the
Republic of Romania.

The joint conduct of inspections in Central and Eastern
European countries was agreed in principle by all parties
to the CFE Treaty during the Seminar which took place at
the NATO Headquarters in Brussels on 26 and 27 January
1993. It takes into account the security interests of both
NATO and Central and Eastern European countries, offering
to the latter extended possibilities to inspect each others
without affecting the passive quota of the inspected
countries.

The Treaty on Conventional Forces in Europe, under whose
Inspection Protocol the verifications are conducted, was
signed in Paris on 19 November 1990 and entered into force
on 14 November 1992. Since the beginning of its first
provisional application, 17 july 1992, some 500
verifications have been carried out by the CFE Treaty
signatory States, many of which with a NATO multinational
composition.

NATO's Verification Co-ordinating Committee was established
by the Atlantic Council in May 1990 to co-ordinate the
implementation of disarmament and arms control agreements
among allied countries and to provide a forum for a regular
exchange of views on related matters. In January 1993 the
Committee launched a programme of enhanced co-operation
aimed to increase the effectiveness and the efficiency of
the CFE Inspection Protocol, thus contributing to achieve
higher levels of confidence, transparency and security
among all Treaty signatories.