Creating more security and confidence through arms control – Switzerland supports joint declaration of several states

Bern, 25.11.2016 - Switzerland strengthens its involvement in efforts to revive conventional arms control in Europe. Federal Councillor Didier Burkhalter is one of 14 foreign ministers to appeal in a joint declaration to all states to take steps to strengthen security and build confidence in Europe.

Federal Councillor Didier Burkhalter supports the joint declaration of a group of like-minded countries that aim to strengthen conventional arms control in Europe. The group, which also includes Germany, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Finland, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Slovakia, Spain and Sweden, came together following the appeal made by German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier on 26 August 2016 to revive conventional arms controls in Europe.

The foreign ministers’ declaration strengthens their shared determination to launch a structured discussion on conventional arms control in Europe. The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) is the central forum for this dialogue. Switzerland, which held the OSCE chairmanship in 2014, is strongly committed to modernising the OSCE’s instruments, especially the Vienna Document on Confidence- and Security-Building Measures. Switzerland is working within the framework of the OSCE to ensure that the informal dialogue on security in Europe is continued at ministerial level for the purpose of building confidence and strengthening security on the continent.

Conventional arms control is a proven method for promoting arms limitation, transparency, risk prevention and mutual confidence building. The uncontrolled proliferation, stockpiling and deployment of conventional weapons can destabilise states and regions and hinder their development. In this context, Switzerland pursues a pragmatic policy on arms control and disarmament to ensure national and international security at the lowest possible level of armaments. Specifically, it aims to ensure that the military activities of states are transparent and predictable, as well as to strengthen international cooperation in the area of security policy, and to build confidence among states.

The system of conventional arms control and confidence-building measures that has existed in Europe since the end of the Cold War is based on the Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe (CFE), the Vienna Document on Confidence- and Security-Building Measures, and the Open Skies Treaty. Switzerland has only acceded as a full participant to the Vienna Document, and  provides a coordinator of the negotiations on the document to the OSCE in Vienna. The process of much-needed updating of the Vienna Document and the CFE has reached a political stalemate. It is therefore now all the more important to support the foreign ministers of the group of like-minded countries who are working to revive conventional arms control in Europe in order to promote security and confidence among all OSCE participating states.

Switzerland’s involvement in arms control is one of the priorities defined in the 2016–2019 Foreign Policy Strategy to strengthen international security.


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