Trends in military posture in focus as OSCE participating States continue the Structured Dialogue on current and future security challenges

VIENNA, 6 June 2017 – Senior officials from capital cities across the OSCE region and Vienna-based ambassadors of OSCE participating States met today in Vienna as part of the latest round of the OSCE Structured Dialogue on current and future security challenges, this time focusing on trends and developments in military force postures, exercises and how they interrelate with threat perceptions and military doctrines.

“There is an urgent need to grasp the current dynamics of military force postures in Europe,” Ambassador Eberhard Pohl, Chairperson of the Structured Dialogue Informal Working Group, said before the meeting. “Developments in this field are complex, both policy- and technology-driven. Only by better understanding military postures and security perceptions can we minimise the emanating risks and rebuild trust together.”  

Ambassador Christian Strohal, Special Representative of the Austrian OSCE Chairmanship and its Co-ordinator on the Structured Dialogue, said: “Today, we continue to foster open and meaningful dialogue among OSCE participating States by taking a closer look on force postures in the OSCE area.” He added he was convinced that “today’s meeting is another important building block to successfully establish the Structured Dialogue as a serious effort by participating States to increase transparency, predictability and, ultimately, co-operative security. It fosters in particular high-ranking military-to-military contacts.”

The OSCE Structured Dialogue on the current and future challenges and risks to security was initiated by OSCE Foreign Ministers in their Declaration on the occasion of the 20th anniversary of the OSCE Arms Control Framework at the OSCE Ministerial Council in Hamburg last December. Addressing these challenges, the participating States aim to strengthen dialogue on how to overcome existing divergences, find common ground and reverse the negative trends in the European security architecture.

Previous meetings in the framework of the Structured Dialogue were held in April and May. The informal meeting of OSCE Foreign Ministers in Mauerbach in July will provide an opportunity to take stock of the initial phase of the Dialogue. The next meetings of the informal working group to be held in September and October will build upon the outcomes and topics identified in the course of these discussions.

The OSCE Structured Dialogue complements the ongoing work of the OSCE on wider issues of co-operation in the politico-military field.