Media advisory

VIENNA, 10 July 2008 - To commemorate the 500th observation flight carried out under the Open Skies Treaty, which was negotiated under OSCE auspices, 500 balloons will be released on Monday on Heldenplatz outside the Hofburg in Vienna.

The balloon release forms part of a ceremony to mark this milestone in the life of the Treaty, expected to take place toward the end of this month. So far, 488 flights have been carried out under the Treaty, which allows its parties to carry out unarmed observation flights over each others territories. The Treaty's 34 State Parties include most European Union members, the Russian Federation and the United States.

The Treaty entered into force in January 2002. It is designed to enhance mutual understanding and confidence by giving all participants the possibility to obtain information on military or other activities of concern to them. Open Skies is the most wide-ranging international effort to date to promote openness and transparency of military forces and their activities.

Monday's ceremony includes welcoming remarks by U.S. Chief Arms Control Delegate Hugh Neighbour, who is serving as Chairman of the Open Skies Consultative Commission (OSCC) from April to the end of September. The Commission is the implementing body for the Treaty.

Other speakers at the ceremony include: Axel Berg, the German Ambassador to the OSCE; Hungary's former Ambassador to the OSCE, Marton Kraznai, and General Alexander Peresypkin of the Russian Federation.

For more information about the Open Skies Treaty, the OSCC, and the observation flights, please see: http://www.osce.org/about/13516.html

Several officials at the ceremony will be available for interviews.

Journalists are invited to the ceremony and to a buffet luncheon reception following the event. The ceremony is set to start at 10:50 July 14 in the Ratsaal, Hofburg Congress Centre. The balloon release is scheduled to take place around 12:30 just outside the Hofburg Congress Centre entrance, and the buffet luncheon reception will be held in the Hofburg Galerie following the release.

For admittance to the Hofburg Conference Centre, please bring your OSCE badge or a valid press card to the security desk (main entrance from the Heldenplatz).