OSCE High-Level Military Doctrine Seminar: Transparency and co-operation needed to build trust in the face of challenges eroding European security

VIENNA, 16 February 2016 – Improving mutual relations among OSCE participating States and enabling information exchange among military representatives with the aim of building trust and confidence is the focus of the two-day High-Level Military Doctrine Seminar organized by the OSCE Forum for Security Co-operation (FSC), which opened today in Vienna.

Ambassador Desirée Kopmels, representing the Netherlands’ Chairmanship of the FSC, stressed the significance of discussing doctrinal changes and their impact on defence forces in the context of current security challenges in Europe.

Noting the importance of bringing together representatives of the armed forces and ministries of OSCE participating States and Partners for Co-operation Kopmels referred to their participation describing it “as a notable achievement and a step in the right direction.”

“I don’t think anyone present here is under the illusion that this is an easy task, but it is a task that we in the OSCE simply have to take on,” said Ambassador Kopmels.

General Tom Middendorp, the Chief of Defence of the Armed Forces of the Netherlands, called for unity against the backdrop of current challenges in the European security such as the conflict in and around Ukraine and mounting transnational threats such as terrorism, the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, cyber threats as well as drugs, arms and human trafficking.

“Confidence and mutual trust can only be built through open and frank dialogue. That is why I sincerely hope we can abide by our common rules, adapt these rules, and establish new ones where necessary,” Middendorp concluded.

In his keynote address, General Othmar Commenda, Chief of Defence Staff of the Austrian Armed Forces, noted that the challenges threatening European security had led “to the erosion of trust among countries and to the re-emergence of once forgotten dividing lines in Europe.”

“It requires not only ongoing adjustment of military concepts and doctrines but also a close international co-operation to be able to confront them,” said Commenda.

Some 350 high-level military officials and experts from the OSCE’s 57 participating States and 11 OSCE Partners for Co-operation are attending the event.

On the margins of the Seminar a side event organized by the German and Austrian Chiefs of Defence, General Wieker and General Commenda, representing the current and subsequent OSCE Chairmanships respectively, will discuss how to restore trust amid the current security challenges. Panelists include Dan Smith, Director of the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI); Ambassador Patricia Flor, German Federal Government Commissioner for Disarmament and Arms Control; and Major General (retired) Vladimir Dvorkin, a distinguished military fellow at the Carnegie Moscow Center’s Nonproliferation Programme.

The High-Level Military Doctrine Seminar, the seventh to take place, is held in accordance with the Vienna Document 2011 on Confidence- and Security-Building Measures which encourages participating States to periodically hold such a seminar. The Vienna Document contains provisions on the exchange of military information, verification and other forms of military co-operation.