Background

Negotiations for an agreement on regional arms control as foreseen in Article V of the Dayton Peace Accords began in early 1999 under the auspices of the OSCE Forum for Security Co-operation (FSC).

Objective

The aim of Article V negotiations is to establish a regional balance "in and around former Yugoslavia" via:

• the development of confidence- and security-building measures (CSBMs) for risk reduction and enhanced transparency
• appropriate measures adapted to specific regional security challenges

Progress

Negotiations were hampered during the Kosovo crisis, but the admission of Yugoslavia to the OSCE in October 2000 paved the way for a successful conclusion of the discussions. A draft document was prepared, circulated and discussed with the 20 States involved in this process: Albania, Germany, the United States of America, Austria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Spain, France, the United Kingdom, Greece, Hungary, Italy, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, the Netherlands, Romania, the Russian Federation, Slovenia, Turkey, and the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.

Conclusion

On 18 July 2001, in Vienna, the negotiations were successfully concluded as the twenty participating States reached consensus on a Concluding Document of the Article V negotiations. This Concluding Document mainly contains a catalogue of voluntary measures tailored to specific regional needs, which the countries can make use of in the light of their national security requirements. A commission will review the implementation of these measures. The Concluding Document is politically binding and became effective on 1 January 2002.

Representative

Ambassador Henry Jacolin of France was appointed as Special Representative of the Chairman-in-Office at the Copenhagen Ministerial Council Meeting in December 1997 to conduct the negotiations on regional stabilization in South-Eastern Europe under Article V of the Dayton Peace Accords.

"The Article V negotiations were long, complex and at times very difficult. Even so, thanks to the political will and the flexibility of all the States involved, the negotiations were in the end a success", said Ambassador Jacolin on the adoption, on 18 July 2001, of a Concluding Document by the twenty participating States.